learn
Americanverb (used with object)
-
learns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
learned,
past participle, past
-
learnt,
past participle, past
-
learning
present participle
-
to acquire knowledge of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience.
to learn French;
to learn to ski.
-
to become informed of or acquainted with; ascertain.
to learn the truth.
-
to memorize.
He learned the poem so he could recite it at the dinner.
-
to gain (a habit, mannerism, etc.) by experience, exposure to example, or the like; acquire.
She learned patience from her father.
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(of a device or machine, especially a computer) to perform an analogue of human learning with artificial intelligence.
-
Nonstandard. to instruct in; teach.
verb (used without object)
-
learns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
learned,
past participle, past
-
learnt,
past participle, past
-
learning
present participle
-
to acquire knowledge or skill.
to learn rapidly.
-
to become informed (usually followed byof ).
to learn of an accident.
verb
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(when tr, may take a clause as object) to gain knowledge of (something) or acquire skill in (some art or practice)
-
(tr) to commit to memory
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(tr) to gain by experience, example, etc
-
(intr; often foll by of or about) to become informed; know
-
not_standard to teach
Usage
What are other ways to say learn?
To learn something is to acquire knowledge of it through study or experience. How does learn compare with discover, ascertain, and detect? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
learnsimple
-
learnssimple
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have learnedperfect
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have learntperfect
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has learnedperfect
-
has learntperfect
-
am learningprogressive
-
are learningprogressive
-
is learningprogressive
-
have been learningperfect progressive
-
has been learningperfect progressive
Past
-
learnedsimple
-
learntsimple
-
had learnedperfect
-
had learntperfect
-
was learningprogressive
-
were learningprogressive
-
had been learningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of learn
First recorded before 900; Middle English lernen, Old English leornian “to learn, read, ponder” (cognate with German lernen ); akin to lesan “to glean” (cognate with German lesen “to read”). See lear
Explanation
To learn is to gain new knowledge or skills through study, practice or experience. You probably learn something every day. Whether you want to dance, understand chemistry, or know the alphabet backwards, you will have to learn. One of the most common ways to learn is through teachers and tutors, but people learn a lot from books, hobbies, jobs, and their families. Books and other reading material are a huge source of learning. Someone sent to prison learns they have to pay for their crime, but they might learn many things because they have plenty of time to read.
Vocabulary lists containing learn
President Obama's second inaugural address
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
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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:
She should read labels, mistrust mysterious additives, interrogate old nutritional orthodoxies and learn to distinguish “real” food from whatever came before it.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Start a QCD on Dec. 28 and you may learn in February that it landed in the wrong tax year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
We learn language by imitation and need some form of community and cooperation to flourish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The Championship will pause for three weeks between Monday, 21 September to Tuesday, 6 October for the international break - but whether Southampton will learn the outcome by then is not yet known.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
When Joey and Renato learn of her diagnosis, these are the realities they face.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The reader is an outside observer and learns about things in a realistic manner.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Randolph said it’s a testament to how quickly Wallace adapts and learns in a new environment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The more Yoriko Kitagawa learns of a massive data centre to be built near her home in Hino on the outskirts of Tokyo, the more she worries.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
And Sonny eventually integrates with a few of her fellow resort-goers, and learns there’s more to them in reality than her imaginings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
He learns about the Holocaust, Anne Frank and the Jews.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
As I recently learned, Bob Dylan once considered recording it.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Eleven days later Southampton learned their fate and were thrown out of the play-offs and given a four-point deduction for this season.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
He has learned, in the words of the poet Robinson Jeffers, that “we must uncenter our minds from ourselves” if we are to prosper as a species among other species.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
In July he learned that any further attempt to challenge the Kremlin could land him in jail.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
I would’ve graduated in another year, but by now I’d learned everything that would help me run the store with Ba, which was what I’d decided to do.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
By comparison Uganda has had nine since 2000, with officials there saying lessons learnt from past tragedies have allowed them to stop the disease ripping through the country on various occasions.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
In the wake of the announcement, Magyar said on Facebook that he had learnt of the alleged raid from Fidesz.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
"It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams," South Africa's minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie said, in a statement.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
On Friday evening, Berlin state finance minister Stefan Evers was appointed to replace him as the CDU's lead candidate, AFP learnt from internal party sources.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Why could Descartes not bear the simple truth, that much of what he knew he had learnt from Beeckman?
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
"I never thought I'd spend the night at the airport, but it is what it is and we are learning," one stranded air traveller told NHK.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
This approach could help scientists move closer to understanding how the human brain produces thought, learning, and cognition.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Educational choice matters because one child may thrive in a highly structured classroom, while another flourishes in a school built around the arts, project-based learning or career and technical education.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
With the movie aficionados apparently learning their lesson after two quarters, Fair Lawn rallied for a 13-12 win – one of the cutters scored two touchdowns and the extra point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Yet if the scientists let their emotions get in the way of learning from the volcano, then the missed opportunity—the chance to prevent harm to someone else in the future—would only add to the tragedy.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
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.
