also: ゆめまぼろし
dreams and fantasies; visions; illusory world
Refers to an ephemeral, dreamlike state or a world of illusions, often with a poetic or literary feel. Can be used for both literal dreams and metaphorical fantasies.
His paintings depict a world of dreams and fantasies.
The boundary between reality and illusion becomes blurred.
His paintings depict a world of dreams and illusions.
That love affair ended as fleetingly as a dream.
幻 describes a fleeting phantom or vision, whereas 夢幻 poetically merges the ideas of dream and illusion into one abstract state.
夢 is the everyday word for 'dream', while 夢幻 is a more abstract, literary compound suggesting a hazy world of dreams and illusions together.
現実 means 'reality', the concrete opposite of the illusory, dreamlike state evoked by 夢幻.
無限 is pronounced identically to 夢幻 but means 'infinite' or 'boundless', a completely different meaning tied only by sound.
Standard kanji spelling; the reading むげん is the most common.
Alternate reading, less common and more literary or emphatic.
Compound of 夢 (dream) and 幻 (phantom, illusion). The reading むげん is the standard Sino-Japanese reading; ゆめまぼろし is a native Japanese reading used for poetic effect.