2027 Forecast

Actions and situations

Dreaming about killing

Dreaming about killing is traditionally read as not violence but removal — the dream usually concerns ending something and the guilt of wanting it ended. It is one of the few dreams anyone has counted: in the standard survey of typical dreams, 24.3% of 1,181 students had dreamt it, the 30th most common of 55 themes.

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Ever had it
24.3% 30th of 55 themes surveyed
Dream book of 1862
Kill its heading in Fontaine
Its lottery numbers
41 as printed in 1862

Share: Nielsen et al. 2003, Dreaming 13(4), Table 1, n = 1,181. Dream book: Felix Fontaine, The Golden Wheel Dream-Book and Fortune-Teller (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862).

Dreams read in a similar way: snakes, being chased, being shot, fighting, witch, skunk and mirror.

Searched about as often: drawing, sex, drowning and travel.

Part of dreams about actions and situations — every related dream in one place.

Dreaming About Killing: What It Means

What research shows

24.3% reported killing someone in Nielsen & Zadra, 2003, and men reported it substantially more often — 36.1% against 19.5%.

The psychological reading

The victim is frequently unknown, which supports the reading that the act matters more than the target. Where the victim is known, waking conflict with that person is usually present.

When it turns up

Why this dream arrives when it does

Killing dreams are about removal rather than violence: ending a role, cutting someone off, stopping something that has been going on too long. About a quarter of people report them, and men report them substantially more often than women in the standard survey.

Measured, not guessed

How many people have this dream?

The item is “killing someone”, thirtieth of 55 — one of the widest gaps between men and women in the study.

  • Age made little difference among the students: 25.2% at 18 or younger, 24.0% at 19 and over.
Dreaming about killing: 24.3% — 30th of the 55 typical dreams surveyed
Dreaming about killing: 24.3% — 30th of the 55 typical dreams surveyedColumn chart of the share of 1,181 students who had ever dreamt each of 55 typical themes, in the order of the published table; Killing someone highlighted.25%50%75%100%Being chased: 81.5%Sexual experiences: 76.5%Falling: 73.8%School, teachers, studying: 67.1%Arriving too late: 59.5%On the verge of falling: 57.7%Trying again and again: 53.5%Someone alive as dead: 54.1%Flying: 48.3%Sensing a presence: 48.3%Failing an exam: 45.0%Being attacked: 42.4%Frozen with fright: 40.7%Someone dead as alive: 38.4%Being a child again: 36.7%Being killed: 34.5%Insects or spiders: 33.8%Swimming: 34.3%Being nude: 32.6%Inappropriately dressed: 32.5%A new room at home: 32.3%Losing control of a vehicle: 32.0%Eating delicious food: 30.7%Paralyzed in bed: 27.2%Finding money: 25.7%Fire: 27.3%Magical powers: 24.9%Superior knowledge: 24.4%Smothered, unable to breathe: 24.2%Killing someone: 24.3%Seeing yourself dead: 23.8%Being locked up: 24.0%A face very close to you: 23.5%Snakes: 22.1%Tied, unable to move: 21.4%Tornadoes or strong winds: 17.7%Trouble finding a toilet: 19.2%Teeth falling out: 18.8%Insane people: 20.0%Being at a movie: 16.9%Part-animal creatures: 16.8%Wild, violent beasts: 15.9%Yourself in a mirror: 15.9%Seeing an angel: 12.4%Travel to another planet: 12.3%Floods or tidal waves: 12.4%A plane crashing: 12.8%Being the opposite sex: 11.9%Encountering God: 11.2%Earthquakes: 10.8%Extra-terrestrials: 9.5%Being an animal: 8.0%Seeing a UFO: 7.7%Someone having an abortion: 5.1%Being an object: 3.5%Killing someone 24.3%← Being chased 81.5%Being an object 3.5% →median 24.4%Source: Nielsen et al. 2003, Dreaming 13(4), Table 1 · n = 1,181astrohot.com
Dreaming about killing: 24.3% — 30th of the 55 typical dreams surveyedColumn chart of the share of 1,181 students who had ever dreamt each of 55 typical themes, in the order of the published table; Killing someone highlighted.25%50%75%100%Being chased: 81.5%Sexual experiences: 76.5%Falling: 73.8%School, teachers, studying: 67.1%Arriving too late: 59.5%On the verge of falling: 57.7%Trying again and again: 53.5%Someone alive as dead: 54.1%Flying: 48.3%Sensing a presence: 48.3%Failing an exam: 45.0%Being attacked: 42.4%Frozen with fright: 40.7%Someone dead as alive: 38.4%Being a child again: 36.7%Being killed: 34.5%Insects or spiders: 33.8%Swimming: 34.3%Being nude: 32.6%Inappropriately dressed: 32.5%A new room at home: 32.3%Losing control of a vehicle: 32.0%Eating delicious food: 30.7%Paralyzed in bed: 27.2%Finding money: 25.7%Fire: 27.3%Magical powers: 24.9%Superior knowledge: 24.4%Smothered, unable to breathe: 24.2%Killing someone: 24.3%Seeing yourself dead: 23.8%Being locked up: 24.0%A face very close to you: 23.5%Snakes: 22.1%Tied, unable to move: 21.4%Tornadoes or strong winds: 17.7%Trouble finding a toilet: 19.2%Teeth falling out: 18.8%Insane people: 20.0%Being at a movie: 16.9%Part-animal creatures: 16.8%Wild, violent beasts: 15.9%Yourself in a mirror: 15.9%Seeing an angel: 12.4%Travel to another planet: 12.3%Floods or tidal waves: 12.4%A plane crashing: 12.8%Being the opposite sex: 11.9%Encountering God: 11.2%Earthquakes: 10.8%Extra-terrestrials: 9.5%Being an animal: 8.0%Seeing a UFO: 7.7%Someone having an abortion: 5.1%Being an object: 3.5%Killing someone 24.3%← Being chased 81.5%Being an object 3.5% →median 24.4%Source: Nielsen et al. 2003, Dreaming 13(4), Table 1 · n = 1,181astrohot.com

That puts it close to the middle of the list — the median theme sits at 24.4%.

Nielsen et al. 2003, Table 1. How the survey works →

The version matters

Different ways this dream shows up

Killing in self-defense and killing deliberately are separate readings; the second is the more disturbing to wake from.

Killing someone you do not recognize

The most common form, and the act matters more than the target. It follows decisions to end something, usually made and not yet acted on.

Killing someone you know

Far more disturbing on waking and usually connected to real conflict with that person. It does not indicate any wish to harm them, and treating it as one is the standard error here.

Killing in self-defense

A separate reading: boundaries rather than removal. Dreamers report it as justified and rarely feel guilt afterward.

Killing an animal

The snake version is the most common. It tends to accompany confronting something you had been avoiding rather than destroying anything.

Hiding a body

The aftermath dream, and the one people report as endless. It tracks consequences of an ending you have not admitted to — a resignation kept quiet, a relationship already over in your head.

Watching someone else kill

Places you as witness to a removal being carried out by others: a sacking, a family exclusion, a decision taken above your level.

Which versions of this dream do people look up?

Searches for dreams about killing most often add “a snake”, “cockroaches”, “rats” and “a spider”.

Dreaming about killing: the versions people search for
Dreaming about killing: the versions people search forBar chart of the details people add when searching for dreams about killing, as a share of searches that name a version.a snakea snake: 54.5%54.5%cockroachescockroaches: 7.8%7.8%ratsrats: 5.6%5.6%a spidera spider: 3.6%3.6%a scorpiona scorpion: 2.7%2.7%a doga dog: 2.3%2.3%head licehead lice: 2.2%2.2%Source: keyword searches naming a version, 2026 — search interest, not dream frequencyastrohot.com
Dreaming about killing: the versions people search forBar chart of the details people add when searching for dreams about killing, as a share of searches that name a version.a snakea snake: 54.5%54.5%cockroachescockroaches: 7.8%7.8%ratsrats: 5.6%5.6%a spidera spider: 3.6%3.6%a scorpiona scorpion: 2.7%2.7%a doga dog: 2.3%2.3%head licehead lice: 2.2%2.2%Source: keyword searches, 2026astrohot.com

Roughly one search in three about dreaming of killing names a particular version, and 63 different details turn up. More than half of them name “a snake”: 54.5%.

Primary source

What a dream book said in 1862

The Golden Wheel Dream-Book, under “Kill”
“If you dream of wantonly killing any animal, or insect, it predicts bad luck and poverty; but if the killing be done by accident, it shows that, though you may have a misfortune in consequence, it will not materially affect your interest. For butchers or farmers to dream of killing fat and healthy animals for food, is a sign of thrift and abundance; but if they dream of killing a hog that does not squeal, it shadows forth a death in the family.”
Felix Fontaine, The Golden Wheel Dream-Book and Fortune-Teller (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862) — read the original text. Like other American dream books of its time, Fontaine read dreams as omens and attached lottery numbers to them; under “Kill” it printed 41. Today’s dream dictionaries still echo readings like this one.

Commonly claimed, and wrong

What this dream does not mean

These dreams are not evidence of violent urges, and no research links them to violent behavior. Reading them as confession is what makes people hide them, which is also why the dream is discussed far less than its frequency deserves.

How to record a dream, why the feeling matters more than the content, and when recurring nightmares are worth a doctor rather than a dictionary — set out once on the main page.

Asked most often

Questions about this dream

What does it mean to dream about killing someone?

Usually ending something rather than harming anyone — a role, a habit, a relationship. About one person in four reports the theme.

Is it bad to dream about killing someone I know?

It is uncomfortable, not diagnostic. It commonly follows unresolved conflict with that person and says nothing about what you want to happen to them.

What does killing a snake in a dream mean?

Most often confronting something that had been avoided. Dreamers usually report it after a decision rather than before one.

Other dreams about actions and situations

Flying Control, tested Falling Loss of footing Fighting Conflict that has not been had while awake Crying Release that the waking day did not allow Sex The second most common theme in the standard survey of typical dreams, and one where the content is rarely about the person involved Cheating Trust tested in the safest possible place Being chased Pursuit without capture Drawing Making something visible that existed only internally

All dreams about actions and situations → · Full A–Z index →

Sources

  1. Nielsen et al. (2003), “The typical dreams of Canadian university students”, Dreaming 13
  2. Felix Fontaine, The Golden Wheel Dream-Book and Fortune-Teller (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862)

Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.

Cite this page

AstroHot. “Dreaming About Killing: What It Means.” Accessed October 29, 2026. https://astrohot.com/dream-dictionary/action/killing/

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