to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in.
She teaches mathematics.
to impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to.
He teaches a large class.
to help to learn; tell or show (how)
to teach someone to paint
to teach someone how to paint
to give instruction or lessons in (a subject) to (a person or animal)
to teach French
to teach children
she teaches
(tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to cause to learn or understand
experience taught him that he could not be a journalist
Also: teach someone a lesson. informal to cause (someone) to suffer the unpleasant consequences of some action or behaviour
Teach, instruct, tutor, train, educate share the meaning of imparting information, understanding, or skill. Teach is the broadest and most general of these terms and can refer to almost any practice that causes others to develop skill or knowledge: to teach children to write; to teach marksmanship to soldiers; to teach tricks to a dog. Instruct almost always implies a systematic, structured method of teaching: to instruct paramedics in techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Tutor refers to the giving of usually private instruction or coaching in a particular subject or skill: to tutor a child in ( a foreign language, algebra, history, or the like ). Train lays stress on the development of desired behaviors through practice, discipline, or the use of rewards or punishments: to train a child to be polite; to train recruits in military skills; to train a dog to heel. Educate, with a root sense of “to lead forth from,” refers to the imparting of a specific body of knowledge, especially one that equips a person to practice a profession: to educate a person for a high school diploma; to educate someone for the law.
First recorded before 900; Middle English techen, Old English tǣcan; akin to token
To teach is to transfer ideas or skills to another person. As an old saying goes, "Give someone a fish, they eat for a day, teach someone to fish and they eat for a lifetime." I hope they like seafood. The Old English word tǣcan, which became the Middle English techen, meant "to show or point out." But the Old English also had another word for teach — læran — which eventually became the modern "learn," with the current meaning of receiving knowledge rather than giving it. If someone tries to "teach you a lesson," he or she tries to punish you for something you've done in order that you won't do it again.
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For extra income, he worked home-repair jobs and she started a charm school to teach Black girls how to model.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
It’s not easy to teach children about the power of investing at an early age, she added — but “I still think it’s worth trying.”
From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026
"It's very important to me and I will teach my children about it as well," she added.
From BBC • May 31, 2026
“The great things I’ve been able to accomplish and to enjoy those moments, but then also to teach him in some of the mistakes that I’ve made,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
Varadero, we learn, has been turned into a training camp for us brigadistas who will teach the poor to read and write.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
