Dream Terminology

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Dreaming has its own language. This glossary explores common terms related to dreams, sleep experiences, and dream-work, along with some traditional and metaphysical terms you may encounter when exploring dreams.

Déjà Rêvé — French for “already dreamed.” The feeling that something happening in waking life seems familiar because you believe you previously experienced it in a dream.

Dream Incubation / Dream Intention — The practice of focusing on a question, topic, or intention before sleep in hopes that it will appear in, influence, or receive a response through a dream.

Dream Mapping — A method of visually organizing dreams, symbols, emotions, recurring themes, and connections across multiple dreams to help identify patterns over time.

Ecstatic Dreams — Dreams characterized by intense joy, awe, bliss, or a feeling of deep connection. Some dreamers describe these experiences as spiritual or transcendent.

False Awakening — A dream in which you believe you have awakened and may even begin going through your normal routine, only to later realize you were still dreaming.

Guidance Dreams — A term sometimes used for dreams that seem to offer insight, direction, or a new perspective on a problem or decision.

Healing Dreams — A term used for dreams that feel emotionally restorative, comforting, or connected with physical or psychological healing. Their meaning is personal to the dreamer and should not be considered medical guidance.

Hypnagogic Experiences — Brief sensory experiences that can occur while falling asleep, including images, sounds, voices, shapes, or flashes of light. Similar experiences occurring while waking are called hypnopompic experiences.

Lucid Dream — A dream in which you become aware that you are dreaming while the dream is still happening. Some lucid dreamers are able to influence aspects of the dream, although control is not always part of lucid dreaming.

Magical Dreams — Dreams involving extraordinary abilities or events that would not normally be possible in waking life, such as flying, transformation, telekinesis, or other superhuman experiences.

Memory Consolidation — The process through which the brain stabilizes and integrates memories. Sleep plays an important role in memory processing, which may also influence the people, places, emotions, and experiences that appear in dreams.

Metacognition in Dreaming — The ability to reflect on your own thoughts, awareness, and mental state while dreaming. Lucid dreaming is one example of increased metacognitive awareness during a dream.

Mutual or Shared Dreams — A term used when two people report dreams that seem unusually similar or connected. People interpret these experiences in different ways, and there is no established scientific evidence that two people literally share the same dream.

Nightmares — Disturbing or frightening dreams that may cause strong emotional reactions or awaken the dreamer. Stress, anxiety, trauma, illness, medications, sleep disruption, and many other factors can influence nightmares.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea — A sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly becomes blocked or reduced during sleep. Because it can disrupt sleep and dreaming, recurring symptoms such as loud snoring, gasping, or excessive daytime sleepiness should be discussed with a healthcare professional.

Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) — An experience in which a person feels as though their awareness or point of view is located outside the physical body. OBEs are reported in dreams, sleep-related states, meditation, and other circumstances, and interpretations of them vary widely.

Parasomnias — A group of sleep-related behaviors or experiences that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, or waking. Examples include sleepwalking, sleep terrors, REM sleep behavior disorder, and sleep paralysis.

Past-Life or Parallel-Self Dreams — Terms some dreamers use for dreams in which they experience themselves as another person, in another time period, or living a life very different from their waking life. Whether these dreams are viewed symbolically, spiritually, or imaginatively depends on the dreamer’s beliefs.

Precognitive or Prophetic Dreams — Terms used for dreams that seem to resemble or anticipate something that later happens in waking life. People interpret these experiences in different ways, and coincidence, memory, and pattern recognition can also play a role.

Psychic Dreams — A broad metaphysical term used for dreams believed to involve extrasensory information, such as clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, or remote viewing. These interpretations are matters of personal or spiritual belief rather than established scientific conclusions.

Psychopomp Dreams — Dreams involving figures who appear to guide, escort, or accompany someone through a transition. In mythology and Jungian-influenced dreamwork, a psychopomp may symbolize a guide between different states of consciousness or stages of life.