Dreams of locks are more related to unnamed people, more related to fantastic beings, and more related to strangers than dreams in general.

Dreams of locks are much more related to fear and more related to pain than dreams in general. They are less related to sadness, less related to grief and sorrow, and less related to love.

Lock dreams are much more related to home and more related to transportation than dreams in general. They are less related to natural places.

Lock dreams are more related to aggressive acts, more related to friendly acts, and more related to death than dreams in general.

Lock dreams are much more related to nightmares, more related to recurring dreams, and more related to sleep paralysis than dreams in general. They are less related to weird dreams and less related to good dreams.

Lock dreams are much more related to hearing, more related to vision, and much more related to touch 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 locks 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 locks in dreams. See how you feel about locks 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. Dreams create symbolism by making comparisons, and a lock is comparable to anything you want to lock away, keep secret, or keep out. Think in terms of what you want to keep out of your life, what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to remember, what’s too difficult to think about, and what you want to keep to yourself. See: Hiding The symbolism of a lock is often connected with its use and function, and with analogies related to locks and keeping things secure. Locking a door can mean you want to keep someone out of your life. Or you don’t want to acknowledge something difficult or painful. Or you want to shut yourself away. See: Doors Being locked in can mean you can’t escape a situation. Facts are facts. You refuse to “open up” emotionally or personally. You have something about yourself that you don’t want people to know, as in when a person is “in the closet.” See: Jails A common theme in the dreams of people who feel insecure is that they can’t lock their doors and windows, or can’t keep them locked. For example, you dream that you find the front door of your home unlocked and think that anyone could have just walked right in, and you connect the symbolism with the feeling that you can’t set or enforce boundaries with people. Example: A woman dreams that she realizes a stranger is outside her front door and she wants to lock it to keep the stranger out. The stranger symbolizes her father, an estranged figure in her life, and wanting to lock the front door to keep him out means she wants to keep him out of her life. He’d recently made contact with her and asked to be part of her life again. Part of her wants to let him in, but experience tells her it’s a bad idea. An unlocked door can symbolize feeling vulnerable. You worry that you forgot to take care of something important. You haven’t thought of every angle. Locked can mean “inaccessible.” Something locked—a door, a window, a safe, a treasure chest—can mean that you are denied an opportunity, or can’t get access to something you need or want. For example, you think you can have a career as a singer if only you could be heard by the right producer, but that door of opportunity is locked. Or a romantic interest won’t let you in emotionally or personally. You’ve been dating someone and the person is not ready to be more physical, such as in the dream a high school guy had about his girlfriend locking him out of his own bedroom. He asks her to let him in, and from the other side of the door she says, “It’s not safe.” It’s a way of saying she doesn’t feel that it’s safe to have sex with him, and locking the door to his bedroom—a room associated with sex—symbolizes denying him access to herself sexually. The symbolism of accessibility also extends to your psyche. Parts of yourself and potential that you have are inaccessible until you lay the groundwork. The psyche has mechanisms for restricting access to certain areas until you are ready, sometimes symbolized in dreams as locked doors. A common theme in these sorts of dreams is that you explore a house and find locked rooms. The house is your psyche, the place where your mind lives, and the locked room is a locked aspect of it. See: Home Dreaming about finding a door unlocked can mean “the door is open to you.” You have an opportunity. For example, you talk with your ex and the person leaves the door open to getting back together. Finding something unlocked can mean that you are able to gain access. You can gain access to a person, to resources and knowledge, and to parts of yourself. For example, a woman has recurring dreams about exploring a mansion. One particular door is always locked, till one time she finds it unlocked and walks inside. That symbolizes her personal growth. An area of her psyche that was inaccessible is now open to her. New rooms in your mind are already there before the doors to them open. The same imagery of finding an unlocked door can symbolize entering a new phase of life. Unlocking a safe can symbolize getting past a person’s defenses, or finding a way around safeguards. See: Safety A locksmith can symbolize trying to open up someone who is emotionally closed off. Or it can mean trying to find out something that’s concealed from you. For example, picking the lock on your supervisor’s desk might symbolize trying to figure out what he or she really thinks of you. Dreaming about being locked out of your car or home and needing a locksmith can mean you need help with an area of life symbolized by the car or home. Perhaps your career is stalled (car symbolism) or you’re cut off from your emotions (home symbolism). See also: Burglary, Cars, Doors, Home, Keys, Lockers, Safety, Strangers, Thieves