Definition

1. Verb:
   • To impart knowledge or skill to (someone): To cause someone to learn or understand something by giving instruction or explanation.
   • To give instruction in (a subject or skill): To act as a teacher for a particular area of study or activity.
   • To advocate or instruct in a principle, belief, or way of behaving: To cause someone to accept a doctrine or adopt a habit through instruction or example.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • She teaches mathematics at the local high school.
  • Experience has taught me to be more cautious.
  • He is teaching his daughter how to read.

Advanced Usage

• "to teach someone a lesson": To cause someone to suffer a bad experience so that they will avoid repeating the mistake.
  • Losing all his money in that deal taught him a lesson about risky investments.
• "to teach school": (Chiefly US) To work as a teacher in a school.
  • After graduating, she returned to her hometown to teach school.

Variants and Related Words

• Teacher (n): A person who teaches, especially in a school.
  • She is a respected teacher.
• Teaching (n): The occupation, profession, or work of a teacher; also, the ideas or principles taught by a person or group.
  • He went into teaching after college. / The teachings of Buddha.
• Teachable (adj): Capable of being taught; also, willing to receive instruction.
  • The concept was broken down into teachable units.

Synonyms

• Instruct: To provide someone with knowledge or information in a structured way.
• Educate: To provide intellectual, moral, and social instruction over time.
• Train: To teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Teach to: (Often used with a skill or subject) To instruct someone in a specific area.
  • My grandfather taught me to fish.
• Teach about: To give instruction concerning a particular topic.
  • This program teaches children about internet safety.

Related Idioms

• You can't teach an old dog new tricks: It is very difficult to make someone change their habits or learn new methods, especially when they are older or set in their ways.
  • He refuses to use the new software. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
• Those who can, do; those who can't, teach: (Often considered derogatory) A saying implying that people who are not successful practitioners in a field become teachers of it instead.
  • He dismissed her criticism with the old saying, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."

Noun

1. an English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and off the Atlantic coast of North America (died in 1718)

Verb

1. accustom gradually to some action or attitude
   • The child is taught to obey her parents
2. impart skills or knowledge to
   • I taught them French
   • He instructed me in building a boat