River dreams are more related to animals than dreams in general. They are less related to unnamed people, less related to strangers, and less related to peers.

River dreams are more related to grief and sorrow than dreams in general. They are less related to embarrassment and less related to hatred.

River dreams are more related to transportation and much more related to natural places than dreams in general. They are less related to work and less related to schools.

Dreams of rivers are more related to disasters than dreams in general. They are less related to sex and less related to health events.

Dreams of rivers are more related to recurring dreams and more related to sad dreams than dreams in general. They are less related to nightmares, less related to bad dreams, and less related to weird dreams.

River dreams are less related to taste.

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 rivers 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 rivers in dreams. See how you feel about rivers 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. A river is, essentially, an obstacle, and trying to cross a river in a dream is a strong indicator of trying to get past an obstacle. The condition of the river, whether raging or calm or in between, and its size can indicate how much of a challenge the obstacle presents. For instance, a student graduating from law school must pass his bar exam before starting work. He dreams about traveling through a city before coming to a bridge over a raging river. Crossing the bridge is perilous, but he makes it to the other side, symbolizing passing the bar exam so he can take a job that has already been offered on contingency. It’s what’s waiting for him on the other side of the river, and the bar is his bridge to getting there. The dream predicts his success with the exam—he knows he’s well prepared—and indeed he passes it. The conditions of the river have many other potential uses as symbolism through comparison. For example, a rushing brown river can symbolize diarrhea. Rapids can symbolize rapid progress or pace to life or some aspect of it. It can mean you’re in rough water figuratively. Standing on the other side of a river from someone you know can show that something stands between you and that person, and/or there’s a division in your mind related to him or her. It can mean a difference of opinion or outlook. The same ideas apply to standing across from a group of people. You’re far apart from them about something. Rivers have currents, and “current” in dream-speak can mean the flow of life, the direction you’re headed, the natural progression of things. You can go with the flow or against it. Going with the flow shows you are in harmony—in your life in general, or in a specific aspect of it. For example, a harmonious marriage can be like a calm river. On the other hand, a stormy marriage can be symbolized as a raging river. Going against the current can be a way of saying you wish to go in another direction. You don’t like where things are headed. You want your own way. Or, you resist the natural progression. You’re going against your instincts. The symbolism shows in the actions involving the river, and your actions and reactions as a dream character in the story. A river can be an analogy for the course of your life, with stops representing its phases and stages—school days, getting married, starting a career, having your first child, retirement. The river connects these points of reference. Rivers are used for travel, too, adding another layer to use as symbolism, because travel and movement in dreams can symbolize the movement of your life, its progress or lack of it. The symbolism will show in your movement along the river, or a view of it. A river that splits can mean facing a decision, especially one that means your life will split off in a new direction. Family is like a river, with your immediate family as the main waterway. Rivers combine to form bigger ones, and families combine through marriage to form bigger families. Day-to-day life with family can be like floating together on a river. Time progresses like a river. The pace of travel on a river makes it a good symbol for watching the days and nights flow by. See: Time, Time travel A river can symbolize your emotions. They flow. They move. And the condition of the water can say a lot about the state of your emotions. See: Water Drowning in a river can mean that something about your life is too much—too much work, too much responsibility, too much turmoil, too much sadness or disappointment, too much emotion. A meandering river is a great metaphor for a meandering life. And of course, your personal experiences come into play. An experience such as almost drowning in a river can create a strong impression that’s likely to be used at some point in your life by your dreams, perhaps years later, as a way of comparing to some other sort of jeopardy in which you find yourself. Or a river in a dream can be a way of referencing an incident from your life. For example, a man dreams about a cold ghost, which just got out of a river, getting into his bed with him. It references the time as a child when he caught typhoid after swimming in a river. The illness made him deathly cold like the ghost, and he almost died and became a ghost himself! Ghosts are associated with the past, too, and he had the dream many years after the incident. See also: Boats, Bridges, Calendars, Captains, Drowning, Floods, Journeys, Roads, Time, Time travel, Water