Dreams of crying are more related to peers, much more related to family, and much more related to romantic partners than dreams in general. They are less related to animals, less related to insects, and less related to unnamed people.

Crying dreams are much more related to happiness, much more related to sadness, and much more related to grief and sorrow than dreams in general. They are less related to fun.

Crying dreams are more related to home than dreams in general. They are less related to work, less related to human-made places, and less related to transportation.

Crying dreams are more related to friendly acts, much more related to death, and more related to health events than dreams in general. They are less related to disasters and less related to eating and drinking.

Crying dreams are more related to nightmares, much more related to bad dreams, and much more related to sad dreams than dreams in general. They are less related to lucid dreams, less related to recurring dreams, and less related to weird dreams.

Dreams of crying are more related to hearing than dreams in general.

You can gain insight from thinking about any dream, no matter how strange. Only you, as the dreamer, have final say on what your dream may or may not mean. Each dream is unique.

The DreamWell dictionary provides information on how each dream symbol appears in dreams in general. Finding how experience crying in dreams can be a key to understanding its meaning.

Our emotions in dreams can help us understand its meaning. Pay attention to how you felt in the dream. Pay attention to how you feel about crying in dreams. See how you feel about crying now, in your waking life.

This interpretation is from ""The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings" and is provided by J.M. DeBord aka "RadOwl". He is the author of several acclaimed books about dreaming, the host of The Dreams That Shape Us podcast, and is a moderator of r/Dreams, one of the largest dream sharing communities on the internet. Crying in a dream can indicate strong emotions—grief, sadness, loss, despair—or just a need for release. A main way dreams identify emotions is through color, and when combined with imagery they can pinpoint what emotions you are experiencing. See: Colors For example, you dream about your favorite houseplant wilted and brown after being neglected, upsetting you to tears, and it symbolizes neglecting your personal growth or health. Green is associated with growth and connection with nature, and brown with decay. Plants and people both grow, and can be unhealthy when neglected. You see yourself in the plant and react based on subconscious knowledge of the symbolism. Now you really have something to cry about! Now ask yourself what else withers from lack of attention or care: relationships, projects, dreams for your life. The key to understanding the symbolism is your reaction. The dream imagery represents something that triggers your emotions. What do you feel like crying about? Keep in mind that dreams focus on whatever is unprocessed from your day, so if you feel strong emotions but go to bed before processing them, you are likely to dream about them. And when dreams process your emotions for you, they are very likely to be amplified. While awake, your guard is up, but while asleep, your guard is down and emotions can really be felt. Crying in a dream might simply be a way of releasing tension, but also consider what’s going on deep in your heart. Something inside you might need your attention. If you wake up crying, it’s possible that trauma, grief, or something similar is bubbling up to the surface and maybe not quite conscious yet. Or something ignored needs to be dealt with or confronted, such as pressure or stress. Or you’re healing, or venting. You can tell the difference, because when you vent you feel better. The pressure is released. But if something has been repressed and finally comes to the surface, the relief from crying is temporary. Dreaming that you cry but no one seems to notice or care might be a sign that you feel ignored, helpless, or frustrated. You aren’t getting your point across, or no one is really listening. The symbolism can be projected onto a character that cries. You can cry because of joy or relief. The difference in feeling is obvious. Making fun of someone crying can symbolize lack of sympathy, or being unable to connect with someone emotionally when he or she is sad or upset. It’s not necessarily a character judgment. It’s possible that you subconsciously know there’s good reason to lack sympathy, or crying represents crocodile tears or comeuppance. Making yourself cry in a dream can symbolize faking sadness or contrition. Or it can be a way of symbolizing acting out to get attention. Or it can mean you have difficulty crying. Crying can be associated with immaturity—“cry like a little baby”—and manipulating people’s feelings and sympathy to get what you want. For example, a man dreams that he’s at a big meeting at work and one of his co-workers brings a baby to the meeting. The baby cries incessantly and the co-worker does nothing to try to stop it. The dream sums up the dreamer’s opinion that the co-worker in question fusses and complains like a baby until getting his way. At a basic level, crying is an expression of need. It might be a plea for help. See also: Babies, Seeing a dead relative, Emotions, Floods, Water, Wounds