I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an impossible dream (= something you want, but will never happen )
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For a small club, winning the cup final will always be the impossible dream.
cherish a hope/an idea/a dream etc
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willingness to re-examine cherished beliefs
dream ticket
fulfilled...dream
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Visiting Disneyland has fulfilled a boyhood dream .
recurring dream/nightmare
rouse sb from sleep/dreams etc
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A persistent ringing roused Christina from a pleasant dream.
sb's dream of glory
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His dreams of glory were shattered when he lost to Federer.
sb’s dreams and ambitions
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He told her all about his dreams and ambitions.
sb’s hopes and dreams (= all the things someone hopes for )
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We talked about all our hopes and dreams for the future.
shatter a dream (= make it impossible for someone to achieve or get something they want )
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He spoke yesterday about the injury which shattered his Olympic dream.
Sweet dreams
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Goodnight, Becky. Sweet dreams.
the days/dreams/friends etc of sb’s youth
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He had long ago forgotten the dreams of his youth.
unattainable ideal/dream/goal etc
wet dream
your dream holiday (= the best holiday you can imagine )
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They won a dream holiday for two to the Caribbean.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bad
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This was like a bad dream coming true.
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If any one of these three is not present, it is a bad dream .
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Well, it happened, one night, between bad dreams .
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The bad dream had been there all the time, of course, up in the jungles on the eastern border.
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But then ... it was like waking up out of a bad dream .
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Bill felt as though he were living a bad dream .
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Be understanding if he or she suddenly starts wetting the bed or crying for attention following a bad dream in the night.
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I was used to my bad dreams and the attacks of panic that followed them.
impossible
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How long can you hang on to an impossible dream ?
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Territory for peace is not an impossible dream .
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Opponents to the listing see it as an expensive attempt at an impossible dream and a misuse of the Endangered Species Act.
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It sounds like an impossible dream .
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Was no one around to warn her this was an impossible dream ?
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The nearest approximation of this impossible counter-colonialist dream that we have is disco.
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Unity now seems an impossible dream .
true
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They passed through two gates, one of horn through which true dreams went, one of ivory for false dreams.
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Is it a true dream , or am I deceiving myself?
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We measure it in remaining true to our dream .
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And more than all, the broken chessman and its evidence of a true dream .
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If only I could believe that this was no true dream !
wild
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In his wildest dreams , it had never occurred to Fabio that he might help any of these children.
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Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep, still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
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Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought I would even go to Hollywood, let alone work with people like him.
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And here you both are, sweeter than my wildest dreams .
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It is riches beyond my wildest dreams and well worth fighting the Second World War for.
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To the contrary, we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams .
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This Tank Girl-style posse is only seven months old, but already it has grown beyond the founders' wildest dreams .
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Our mission reaps rewards far beyond our wildest dreams !
■ NOUN
home
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But just a couple of days after they moved into their dream home in Quedgeley, it was stolen and torched.
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Finally, my family had a dream home and I had my own room with a view of Mount Fuji.
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And, a shambles: Government attacked over the road that will blight a dream home .
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Purchased for $ 300, 000 in April 1979, the peak was to become the Ryans' retirement dream home .
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Cracking up ... the dream home that's become a couple's nightmare.
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Behind them, on the screen, were live pictures of another dream home being devoured by flames.
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She has vivid, longing dreams about living in it-literally her dream home .
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Dream on, dream homes , until I come again!
house
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John Combes and his wife lived out their lives in their dream house , and their children stayed here until the 1760s.
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Sadly, they were forced to rent their dream house to tenants for the $ 25 monthly mortgage.
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He ended by building his dream house in the cosy lee of a gentle hill and away from the roar of the sea.
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A palace, Carolyn told herself, a dream house .
job
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Saracens installed him as their coach and he had his dream job , if not one for life.
pipe
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For now, it is only a pipe dream .
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Yet collective, national education re-form seems mostly a pipe dream .
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The November 1992 unveiling quickly became a pipe dream , and the museum now plans to finish the new wing incrementally.
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It was ready because the artfully crafted pipe dream of the land traffickers was beginning to sour.
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Of course, it's a pipe dream .
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What a pipe dream , we thought, as many children were getting no education at all.
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How are you going to ensure that Care in the Community is not just a pipe dream ?
world
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But, when the viewer returns from this lovingly created dream world to reality, they find it very difficult to cope.
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That dream world has more solidity than a house uninhabited.
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Nor are Wolfgang's imaginative adventures as king of his dream world , Kingdom of Back, in any way pathological.
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He was fidgety and in a dream world when being given instruction in a group.
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Lit in this way a room is a simulacrum of a dream world .
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That shop was like a dream world to me, full of secrets and wonders.
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But your dream world of wheeling and dealing become confusing.
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His design had to reveal the pattern and phrasing of the dream world he wished to conjure up.
■ VERB
fulfil
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Instead, it was the skinny younger brother who blossomed and then fulfilled that dream .
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A worldwide network of short-wave stations with directional aerials was established, fulfilling Marconi's dream of global radio communication.
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His is not the usual tale of an athlete fueled by passion, fulfilling a lifelong dream at the Olympic Games.
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If only I'd had one of them, it seems I could have had success, fulfilled my dreams .
fulfill
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A worldwide network of short-wave stations with directional aerials was established, fulfilling Marconi's dream of global radio communication.
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Our son Dan was the first to fulfill that dream .
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In the fresh light of day you are full of confidence and exultation as you prepare to fulfill your dream .
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But if he solved this problem, and built this machine... it would fulfill all the dreams .
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His is not the usual tale of an athlete fueled by passion, fulfilling a lifelong dream at the Olympic Games.
live
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It seemed to her now that she had lived in a dream .
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The Republicans running for president now come to Arizona so they might live their dreams while we relive our nightmares.
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You don't get a second chance to live your dreams , do you?
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This means that you live in a dream .
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He seemed to have his head in the clouds, to be living in a dream of gold.
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Now, McCain sits on the sideline and watches another Republican come to Arizona to live his dream .
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Since Tuesday, when I went to tea with Ivy, I have been living in a dream of confusion and discomfort.
realize
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In the fourth sentence, the focus suddenly shifts to talking about creators in general and how they realize their dreams .
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They went on dreaming , but they could not exercise their power to realize their dreams.
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But even on the verge of realizing her dream , Gupta is having second thoughts.
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Now, however, he realized that those dreams were just fantasies and could never be fulfilled.
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But the man who made it possible for Texans to realize their dreams of legally hiding handguns, Republican Gov.
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He never came close to realizing his dream of winning the presidency.
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Some people dream great dreams, but they never develop a plan complete with goals and tactics to realize their dreams.
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Hope dies when there is no way of realizing our dreams .
seem
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But this time it seemed that the dream would never end.
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Yet collective, national education re-form seems mostly a pipe dream .
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Those few short months with Tony seemed sometimes like a dream to her.
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It seemed a dream come true-what more could I have asked for?
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With the homesteads and the animals passing him downriver, it all seemed a dream .
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He seems to know about dreams .
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Truly great leaders such as Oppenheimer seem to incarnate the dream and become one with it.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
beyond sb's wildest dreams
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The business has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
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But for vast numbers of children in the developing world, such gifts are beyond their wildest dreams.
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It is riches beyond my wildest dreams and well worth fighting the Second World War for.
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It was a world beyond my wildest dreams; one I had only seen on celluloid in the cinema at Fontanellato.
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Our mission reaps rewards far beyond our wildest dreams!
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Route 66 Magazine, a three-year-old quarterly, is growing beyond the wildest dreams of its publisher, Paul Taylor.
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Six years ago, Dexter and Birdie Yager had succeeded in their business beyond their wildest dreams.
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The cartel succeeded beyond its wildest dreams: by last month the price was brushing $ 30.
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To the contrary, we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
not/never in your wildest dreams
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But never in my wildest dreams did I expect such a transformation as this.
pipe dream
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Making it all the way to the NFL is a pipe dream for most athletes.
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For now, it is only a pipe dream.
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How are you going to ensure that Care in the Community is not just a pipe dream?
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It was ready because the artfully crafted pipe dream of the land traffickers was beginning to sour.
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Of course, it's a pipe dream.
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The November 1992 unveiling quickly became a pipe dream, and the museum now plans to finish the new wing incrementally.
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This is not some pipe dream.
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What a pipe dream, we thought, as many children were getting no education at all.
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Yet collective, national education re-form seems mostly a pipe dream.
the (very) stuff of dreams/life/politics
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But such philosophical dissent, at this point, is the stuff of dreams in a dreamworld.
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How does a political system handle the incredibly difficult and complicated value allocations that are the stuff of politics?
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Our ideas and hopes for the future are the stuff of life.
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This was the stuff of life.
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Within this realm the stuff of dreams and nightmares can coalesce from the very air.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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After the accident, Clarke had to give up his dream of becoming a racing driver.
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Alfonso's dream was to be a professional ball player.
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Ben seemed lost in a dream .
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Her dream was to go to Hollywood and become a movie star.
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I had a strange dream last night -- you and I were in some sort of tropical forest.
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I never remember my dreams when I wake up.
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Last year her dream came true and she was offered a chance to study in America.
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None of my dream are about work.
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The events of the past few days seemed like a bad dream .
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When I was younger, I had recurring dreams in which I was constantly pursued by soldiers.
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When she woke, she found that it was all a dream .
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You and Bobby were in my dream last night.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Dreaming dreams, hoping for magic.
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His dream came to him in flashes.
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Now they must try to put their dreams back together again.
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She had no dreams for me, so I created my own.
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She, herself, Nicie, into dreams, fantasies.
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The subconscious does not distinguish between desires and fears, between dreams and nightmares.
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Towards morning, Peter dreamed the old dream for the first time in months if not years.
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Your wife and me-no more dreams.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
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I am doing what I love and I am playing for a team I always dreamed about .
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You will begin to dream about money the way you dreamed about overdue term papers when you were in college.
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Even now we're married I look at her and she's like a girl that you might dream about .
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I used to dream about her during the years I was married.
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So this was the moment she had dreamed about ?
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I still dream about the clock.
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Ferdi would be kissing her, his hands would find the places Volker had only dreamed about .
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Suddenly I no longer had any place to dream about .
again
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I started dreaming again until I heard footsteps outside.
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There are certain dreams that once they are dead can never be dreamed again .
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He went to bed and dreamed again .
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So I told her, you have that dream again , you tell me about it.
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Once in his own, he dreamed again of Tatiana, but she was far away from Broadstairs.
always
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I am doing what I love and I am playing for a team I always dreamed about.
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Right in the middle of the action, where he has always dreamed of being but never quite reached.
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The holiday was one I have always dreamed about and I would highly recommend the centre to any outdoor enthusiast.
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I know a highly successful radiologist who has always dreamed of being a singer, but he has no voice.
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I had always dreamed of living in the country.
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Feeling unloved is the story of Judy Garland's life; she always dreamed of something better.
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They have left, believing they could do better for themselves elsewhere, and then having gone they dream always of returning.
ever
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The future was more secure than he had ever dreamed possible.
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Everything you ever dreamed of, they make it right here.
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No Forest board would ever dream of sacking him.
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Mass-circulation magazines had a larger pulpit than any meeting-hall diet guru ever dreamed .
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Reality is a much more tedious, recalcitrant beast than was ever dreamed of in Phil Redmond's philosophy for Brookside.
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In 1933, the Columbia was by far the biggest river anyone had ever dreamed about damming.
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And she had everything she had ever dreamed of - more.
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Today the Hardys have their own successful Amway business, earning and giving away more money than they ever dreamed .
never
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He had never dreamed that it would happen to him.
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They never dreamed of getting them back.
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With Chris he had known a joy he had never dreamed of.
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People often display powers in time of fire that they would never dream of in ordinary life.
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Even then Dean was at a point most players would never dream of reaching.
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He never dreamed he would be the butt of such a classic, almost vaudevillian joke.
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I never dreamed of being the Springbok captain.
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He had never dreamed a person could be so powerless in his power.
only
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With my figure I can only dream .
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You had it all, boys, the big silver spoon most people can only dream about.
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Ferdi would be kissing her, his hands would find the places Volker had only dreamed about.
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She was getting to do something most kids can only dream about.
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Around the walls are the type of prize catches that most anglers could only dream about.
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I had only dreamed about him.
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Bailey, 24, still could only dream about making his first Olympic team.
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There are the chronically shod who would only dream of stepping out of their shoes in the shower or in bed.
still
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Here she was in her sixties and still dreaming like a schoolgirl about a man.
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Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep, still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
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And you're still dreaming this impossible dream about you and some fantastic job in publishing.
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Too many of them still dream big dreams that not enough others share.
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He is still dreaming of running the good marathon.
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The former quarterback still dreamed of throwing the long ball.
up
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No theatre producer could have dreamed up a more dramatic introduction.
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Whatever plan he dreams up is bound to run up against the ambitions and obstinacy of a lot of powerful colleagues.
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Dave dreamed up the evil pint in a cellar under Gastons, the pub his runs in Preston.
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When they take that habit back to their own office, they often dream up better ways to accomplish their goals.
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I was to keep on with the Radio Column, some reviews, and any special features I could dream up .
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Whoever dreamed up City Lights was a genius, I thought more than once.
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What devilish torture had Raimundo dreamed up now?
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The rest you dreamed up for yourself, you obvious wee shite.
■ VERB
begin
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Mann sat back on his chair, closed his eyes and began to dream .
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Now-hungry, yet trapped in an endless meeting-you begin to dream about owning a restaurant yourself.
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When she fell asleep, she began to dream .
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You will begin to dream about money the way you dreamed about overdue term papers when you were in college.
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Soon, though, she began to dream - confused, disturbing dreams, and all of them about Julius.
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I began to dream and I made myself wake up.
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So begin by dreaming up at least three possibilities.
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We began to dream about owning a business where we could work side by side.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Do animals dream ?
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Going abroad for a holiday was something our grandparents could only dream about.
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I dreamed that I was lying on a beach in the Caribbean.
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I dreamt about you last night.
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I hoped that someone would wake me up, that I had only been dreaming.
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I was sure I mailed the letter yesterday, but I must have dreamed it.
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Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
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Maura had never dreamt that she could feel like this.
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Most of the students were dreaming during the lecture.
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Stephanie often dreams of long sea journeys.
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When I was at college I dreamed of becoming a great novelist.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And she had not been half asleep and dreaming this time.
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Even now we're married I look at her and she's like a girl that you might dream about.
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He was dreaming; maybe it was the way he would dream for the rest of his short life.
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I would not dream of toying with you.
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Paradoxically, while dreaming we are without imagination and we are not aware that we are dreaming.
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Some thought it was the breakthrough scientists had dreamed of.
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The Rockets can close their eyes and dream about tasting dessert before they've earned it.