Dreaminess is a soft, distracted quality of being lost in your thoughts or imagination. When someone has a dreamy look on their face, they're staring off into space, not really paying attention to what's happening around them. A person experiencing dreaminess might miss what the teacher just said because they were imagining themselves exploring Mars or replaying an exciting scene from their favorite book.

The word suggests a pleasant, gentle sort of distraction, different from simply not paying attention out of boredom. There's something peaceful and imaginative about dreaminess. A student gazing out the classroom window at drifting clouds, thinking about summer vacation, shows dreaminess. An artist sketching ideas with that faraway expression has it too.

Dreaminess can also describe a quality that makes something feel soft, hazy, or romantic, like the dreaminess of an old photograph or a quiet morning with fog rolling through the trees. Some music has a dreamy quality that makes you feel like you're floating. While constant dreaminess might mean you miss important information, a little bit of it gives your imagination room to wander and create new ideas.