lecture
Americannoun
-
lectures
plural
verb (used without object)
-
lectures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lectured,
past participle, past
-
lecturing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
lectures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lectured,
past participle, past
-
lecturing
present participle
noun
-
a discourse on a particular subject given or read to an audience
-
the text of such a discourse
-
a method of teaching by formal discourse
-
a lengthy reprimand or scolding
verb
-
to give or read a lecture (to an audience or class)
-
(tr) to reprimand at length
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lecturesimple
-
lecturessimple
-
have lecturedperfect
-
has lecturedperfect
-
am lecturingprogressive
-
are lecturingprogressive
-
is lecturingprogressive
-
have been lecturingperfect progressive
-
has been lecturingperfect progressive
Past
-
lecturedsimple
-
had lecturedperfect
-
was lecturingprogressive
-
were lecturingprogressive
-
had been lecturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lecture
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin lēctūra “a reading”; see lection, -ure
Explanation
When your teacher stands up in front of you and teaches by talking about the latest chapter you've read or explaining how to do a new math problem - he is giving a lecture. A lecture is most often used to describe a method of teaching, particularly popular in college, where professors give organized talks as lessons to large groups of students. It is not quite as positive when children level the term at their parents — "Don't lecture me!" — for criticizing their clothes, their friends or their music. Lecture can also be used to describe any public talk, most often by an expert.
Vocabulary lists containing lecture
The Vocabulary of College
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"The Treasure of Lemon Brown"
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Guts
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But, he says, “it’s done in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re going into the movie and you paid money to watch a lecture for an hour and 40 minutes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
He called all the brass to sit and listen to him lecture them about what a true military leader should be.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
When I say this to doctors, they go, “Oh, my God, Gayle,” and then you get a whole big lecture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
The building also houses the John Wolfson Rare Book Room, a lecture theatre, the Weston Foyer exhibition space and a climate-controlled store for the archive.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Reading for the first time about the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, he went on to lecture about it.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Ardern is taking up a post as Professor of Practice this month, the university said, offering guest lectures, masterclasses and mentoring.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Having been gobbled up like a meal worm, Jay dredges up flashbacks of his father’s lectures in whale anatomy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Apocalyptic eschatology has long been an interest of Thiel’s, who has made the Antichrist a central topic of secretive lectures he’s given behind closed doors.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
He envisions lectures from prominent tech figures, mentorship from partners at the firm and Montessori-inspired learning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Before we were allowed aboard the Rena, Dad delivered a series of lectures about navigation, tides, the magnetic compass, seamanship, rope-splicing, right-of-way, and nautical terminology.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
When he wasn’t taking on Nazis, Indy lectured in the sort of dusty, paneled classroom I learned Latin in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
A book club is filled with a hundred little paradoxes: They want to learn but not be lectured to.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Yet away from the mainstream, Ceirion Dewar, who is a bishop in the small, more conservative, traditionalist Confessing Anglican Church, insists he will not be "lectured to" by these clergy.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2025
She was also officer of several technical societies and lectured on technical analysis around the world.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 17, 2025
Rather than squabbling over sites, he lectured, the different factions needed to recognize that for the exposition to succeed, everyone had to work together, no matter which location the directors selected.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
When COVID-19 hit, she pivoted from events to lecturing in universities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Instead, he keeps lecturing young people to curtail their lives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Like many advisers, DeLarme understands that lecturing about the risks of stock picking can fall flat.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
However, some social media users saw this as exactly the kind of colonial lecturing he said that France had moved away from, while others argued he was within his rights.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
Javier wrote her a long letter after his father died three years ago, and said he’d finally become a professor of biochemistry at the University of Prague, lecturing in Russian, German, and Czech.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
