Dreams about actions and situations

Falling

In later sleep, falling tends to accompany situations where support has been withdrawn: a job, a relationship, a certainty.

Being chased

The standard reading is that the pursuer represents something being avoided in waking life. What is chasing you matters more than the chase — a stranger, an animal and a person you know point in different directions.

Flying

Effortless flight tends to accompany periods of confidence; struggling to stay airborne accompanies the opposite. Height often tracks perceived control.

Being naked in public

Frequently accompanies impostor feelings, new jobs and public roles. Notably, in many such dreams nobody else reacts.

Being lost

Familiar places that have become unnavigable are the most telling version: the surroundings have not changed, your ability to read them has.

Marriage

Commitment as a structure rather than a feeling — often about any binding arrangement, not a wedding.

Fighting

Conflict that has not been had while awake. The opponent's identity matters less than whether you fight back.

Crying

Release that the waking day did not allow — often the most straightforward dream there is.

Killing

Not violence but removal — the dream usually concerns ending something and the guilt of wanting it ended.

Drowning

Being overwhelmed with the exit visible — drowning dreams almost always contain the surface.

Travel

Movement with a destination in mind, which separates it from wandering.

Driving car

Agency in motion — the same symbol as the car dream, with the emphasis on the act rather than the vehicle.

Work

The dream that gives no rest from the day — work dreams are among the most literal there are.

Being lost

Not knowing where you are, in a place you should know — the disorientation matters more than the location.

Walking

Progress at your own pace — walking dreams concern effort rather than destination.

Eating

Taking something in — eating dreams are about acceptance more often than about hunger.

Cheating

Trust tested in the safest possible place. The dream is about the fear, not the act — and rarely about the partner.

Swimming

Moving through feeling rather than being overwhelmed by it — the competent version of the water dream.

Running

Effort with urgency attached — but unlike being chased, the reason is often absent.

Kissing

Intimacy at its most specific — kiss dreams are more often about closeness than about sex.

Time travel

Wanting a decision back — time-travel dreams are about a specific moment, not about time.

Singing

Voice used deliberately — singing dreams concern being heard rather than performing.

Laughing

Emotion released without cause — laughing dreams are among the rarest pleasant ones.

Screaming

Sound that will not come out — the scream dream is defined by the failure, not the noise.

Other categories

Animals People Places Objects Nature and elements The body

83 subjects · 395,450 searches a month

Every actions and situations dream people ask about

Ordered by how often each is actually searched. We publish the demand figure because it answers a question no dream dictionary does: is your dream unusual, or is it one of the most common ones there is.

# Dream about Searches / month Share of category
1 Fighting 36,200 9.2%
2 Sex 35,100 8.9%
3 Crying 21,900 5.5%
4 Getting married 20,440 5.2%
5 Drowning 17,400 4.4%
6 Flight 16,500 4.2%
7 Travel 16,400 4.1%
8 Driving a car 15,800 4%
9 Funeral 12,300 3.1%
10 Eating 11,590 2.9%
11 Walking 11,100 2.8%
12 Work 9,900 2.5%
13 Killing someone 9,300 2.4%
14 Crying in my 8,100 2%
15 Partner cheating 7,200 1.8%
16 Cheating 6,900 1.7%
17 Running 6,700 1.7%
18 Closet 6,600 1.7%
19 Cry in 6,600 1.7%
20 Swimming 6,400 1.6%
21 Kidnapped 5,650 1.4%
22 Someone killing someone 5,400 1.4%
23 Killing someone in a 5,400 1.4%
24 Missing a flight 4,800 1.2%
25 Dancing 3,940 1%
26 Winning the lottery 3,800 1%
27 Marriage 3,800 1%
28 Dying 3,600 0.9%
29 Cheating partner 3,490 0.9%
30 Fighting with someone 3,200 0.8%
31 Kiss 3,040 0.8%
32 Swimming in a pool 2,900 0.7%
33 Laughing 2,640 0.7%
34 Killed 2,600 0.7%
35 Singing 2,480 0.6%
36 Sleep paralysis 2,400 0.6%
37 Walking without shoes 2,400 0.6%
38 Driving 2,020 0.5%
39 Time travel 2,000 0.5%
40 Someone chasing you 2,000 0.5%
41 Partner cheating on you 2,000 0.5%
42 Cookies 1,900 0.5%
43 Winning 1,900 0.5%
44 Killed someone in 1,900 0.5%
45 Kissing 1,600 0.4%
46 Swimming in a 1,600 0.4%
47 Sex in 1,600 0.4%
48 Chased in a 1,600 0.4%
49 Running away 1,440 0.4%
50 Someone trying to kill me 1,300 0.3%
51 Someone who has died 1,300 0.3%
52 Swimming pool 1,300 0.3%
53 Walking on a 1,300 0.3%
54 Fighting in a 1,300 0.3%
55 Search 1,300 0.3%
56 Chasing 1,300 0.3%
57 Raw meat 1,180 0.3%
58 Eating chocolate 1,180 0.3%
59 Screaming 1,000 0.3%
60 Passing out 880 0.2%
61 Eating rice 880 0.2%
62 Shopping 880 0.2%
63 Drinking alcohol 880 0.2%
64 Eating cake in 880 0.2%
65 Dance 880 0.2%
66 Late 720 0.2%
67 Moving 720 0.2%
68 Buying new clothes 720 0.2%
69 Cheated on 720 0.2%
70 Spouse cheating 720 0.2%
71 Killing 720 0.2%
72 Feathers 720 0.2%
73 Eating bread 720 0.2%
74 Eating glass 720 0.2%
75 Getting married in 720 0.2%
76 Sell a 720 0.2%
77 Prayer 720 0.2%
78 Drinking milk 590 0.1%
79 Running away from someone 590 0.1%
80 Beating someone 590 0.1%
81 Buying a car 590 0.1%
82 Eating in the 590 0.1%
83 Meat 590 0.1%

The most-asked actions and situations dream is Fighting at 36,200 searches a month — 9% of everything in this category. Just 10 of the 83 subjects account for half the demand, which is the usual shape: a handful of dreams everybody has, and a long tail almost nobody asks about.

22 with full pages · 20 listed here · 486,010 searches a month in this category

Everything else people dream about in this category

These are searched too rarely to justify a page each, and a thin page would serve nobody. The figure is how often the subject is looked up per month — the one thing about it that is actually countable.

Raw meat 1,870 Feathers 930 Spouse cheating 790 Drinking milk 760 Climbing 2,990 Pastor talking to 630 Beating 1,660 Lost 2,920 Losing purse 560 Traveling 770 Losing phone 460 Losing weight 440 Meat 380 Serial killer 320 Arguing with 320 Getting killed 320 Cooked meat 240 Else losing limbs 230 Losing something 210 Drink alcohol 210