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

Opponent dreams are much more related to embarrassment, more related to confusion, and more related to pain than dreams in general. They are less related to happiness, less related to sadness, and less related to grief and sorrow.

Opponent dreams are more related to natural places and much more related to magical places than dreams in general. They are much less related to home, less related to work, and less related to transportation.

Dreams of opponents are much more related to aggressive acts, much more related to friendly acts, and more related to sex than dreams in general. They are less related to eating and drinking and less related to health events.

Dreams of opponents are more related to weird dreams than dreams in general. They are less related to nightmares, much less related to recurring dreams, and less related to sleep paralysis.

Opponent dreams are less related to smelling and less related to vision.

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 opponents 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 opponents in dreams. See how you feel about opponents 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. An opponent in a dream can indicate conflict, either with yourself, with someone in your life, or with a situation. Sometimes the imagery is pretty straightforward. If you have been in conflict with someone in your waking life and dream about that person as an opponent, the likelihood is high that the dream relates to the conflict. Or if you’re battling yourself over a decision and dream about wrestling a bear, then perhaps the decision is a “bear to deal with.” Dreams have all sorts of ways of telling a story and using opponents to do it. The key is to figure out what an opponent represents, and to understand the opponent as deliberately chosen by the dream to tell the story. In simplest terms, an opponent is something you oppose or that opposes you. That word can apply to a wide variety of situations and circumstances. Sometimes, a conflict with a person in your life is symbolized as a surrogate dream character who opposes or works against you. For example, the coach you’re at odds with reminds you of your father, so you dream about your father as a surrogate for your coach. Perhaps they’re both inflexible and demanding. The supervisor you’re in conflict with reminds you of a teacher you disliked, and you dream about the teacher instead of the supervisor. Both have the power to judge whether you succeed or fail. The arguments you have with your spouse are just like the arguments you had with your ex-spouse, and you dream about your ex. Using a surrogate gives you distance to step back and observe and react from your gut. Remember, while dreaming you already know who and what the characters represent, and you react according to that subconscious knowledge. Conflicts with yourself symbolized by an opponent will usually feature a character or characters that don’t look like you, but that’s not always the case. For example, a young doctor dreams that he is in an arena, in a fight to the death with a character that’s himself. The opponent is “clean and angelic,” while the doctor sees himself as muddy and sweaty. The dream illustrates internal conflict about upholding the image of a doctor. He thinks doctors have to maintain a clean image, but he knows that’s not who he really is. An opponent might represent something positive about yourself that needs to be integrated into your personality. An adversary in a dream can be anything with which you have an adversarial relationship, and it’s presented as an adversary because of your conflict with it. The adversary in your dream can actually be a part of you that works against you or challenges you in ways that make you uncomfortable. Or it’s a rejected or unwanted part of yourself. It might represent a fear or bad character trait, something about yourself with which you struggle. Dreams about an opponent can arise from conflicts with your morals, values, ideals, principles, or best interests. Something inside you disagrees with what you’re doing. Or you have competing desires. Your head and heart disagree. You are your own opponent. The opponent(s) in a dream can symbolize a situation that’s difficult, a struggle. For example, a school office worker dreams about an apocalyptic battle against strange alien creatures, illustrating the battles she faces every day at work to accomplish everything that needs to be done. The opponent in the dream is represented as strange aliens because the battle against the constant onslaught of work is impersonal. See: Fighting That last point is very important. When something is close and personal to you, the related symbolism is likely to be close and personal. The opponent in your dream is in your face. And the degree of the conflict is symbolized through the characterization. An opponent isn’t the same as an enemy. An enemy implies a greater degree of conflict or feeling. An adversary can symbolize an obstacle, including your internal obstacles, and overcoming an adversary is a good sign of overcoming the obstacle. Dreaming about an adversary overcoming you implies that you are unsuccessful at overcoming something. What do you see about yourself in your opponent? Do you recognize someone you know, on the basis of appearance, role, or demeanor? Are you battling yourself over something, or is your daily life like a battle? See also: Stadiums and arenas, Enemies, Fighting, Games, Sports, Tackling, War