夢む中ちゅう

noun, na-adjective

forgetting oneself; trance; daze; delirium

Describes a state of losing ordinary self-awareness through panic, excitement, pain, ecstasy, or confusion. In everyday Japanese, this often appears in phrases like 夢中で or 無我夢中で, meaning one acts without thinking clearly.

• 火か事じだと聞きいて、夢む中ちゅうで外そとへ飛とび出だした。

  When I heard there was a fire, I rushed outside without thinking.

• 彼かの女じょは夢む中ちゅうで助たすけを呼よんだ。

  She called for help frantically.

noun

within a dream; while dreaming

Literal use meaning “inside a dream” or “while dreaming.” In modern everyday Japanese, 夢の中 is much more usual; this sense of 夢中 is literary or old-fashioned.

• 古ふるい文ぶんでは、「夢む中ちゅうに故こ郷きょうを見みる」のように、夢む中ちゅうが「夢ゆめの中なか」を表あらわすことがある。

  In old writing, 夢中 can mean “in a dream,” as in “to see one's hometown in a dream.”