rêvé

Rêvé is the past participle of the French verb rêver, meaning to dream. It also functions as an adjective describing something that has been imagined or is imagined as ideal rather than real. The feminine form is rêvée, and the plural forms are rêvés (masc.) and rêvées (fem.). The root is shared with the noun rêve (dream) and the noun rêverie (a daydream or state of reverie).

Usage

As a past participle, rêvé is used with the auxiliary avoir to form compound tenses: j'ai rêvé of a future, or j'ai rêvé d'un pays lointain. When used adjectivally, it agrees with the noun it modifies: un lieu rêvé (a dreamt or ideal place), une occasion rêvée (a dreamed/ideal opportunity). In this sense, rêvé often conveys something desirable, imagined, or aspirational rather than strictly realized.

Notes and nuance

Rêvé frequently conveys idealization or longing, distinguishing it from terms for the actual, real world. In contrast to rêverie, which names the act or state of daydreaming, rêvé refers to the content or quality of that dream as applied to a person, place, memory, or possibility. In translation, rêvé can be rendered as "dreamed," "dreamlike," or "ideal," depending on context.

See also

Rêverie; rêve; rêver (to dream).