What does it mean when you dream of a person being dead when they are actually alive?

Answer 1

It means that you had some knowledge of that person's condition, whether consciously or intuitively. It is not unusual for dreams to openly express the very things that we try to deny with the conscious mind.

Answer 2

It could mean that your life and their life have turned in different directions, so that this person is no longer a part of your life. Your subconscious mind, which creates your dreams, often interprets an absence as death. If the relationship has been broken in some way, the dream might reflect the sense that this person is "dead to you," in a way that evokes grief that is a lot like the grief over an actua death.

Answer 3

It is commonly believed that such dreams are spiritual or supernatural premonitions. But most often more mundane explanations can be found. If the "someone" is seriously ill or quite aged, the likelihood of their dying is quite high. One might try with the conscious (waking) mind to deny the approach of death, so that the dream is simply pointing out the inevitable. Similarly, everybody dies sooner or later. If one dreamed of a friend's death, then several years later the friend actually died, that would not be a supernatural premonition.