lecture

[lek-cher]

noun

1. a speech read or delivered before an audience or class, especially for instruction or to set forth some subject.

   a lecture on Picasso's paintings.

   Synonyms: discourse, paper, talk, address

2. a speech of warning or reproof as to conduct; a long, tedious reprimand.

verb (used without object)

lectured, lecturing 

1. to give a lecture or series of lectures.

   He spent the year lecturing to various student groups.

verb (used with object)

lectured, lecturing 

1. to deliver a lecture to or before; instruct by lectures.

   Synonyms: teach, address

2. to rebuke or reprimand at some length.

   He lectured the child regularly but with little effect.

   Synonyms: hector, admonish

lecture

/ ˈlɛktʃə /

noun

1. a discourse on a particular subject given or read to an audience

2. the text of such a discourse

3. a method of teaching by formal discourse

4. a lengthy reprimand or scolding

verb

1. to give or read a lecture (to an audience or class)

2. (tr) to reprimand at length

Other Word Forms

• prelecture noun
• unlectured adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lecture¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin lēctūra “a reading”; lection, -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of lecture¹

C14: from Medieval Latin lectūra reading, from legere to read

Example Sentences

“He could dumb down the important things,” she said, “so that we would leave the church service or leave the lecture taking something with us.”

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Other somewhat more didactic or exposition-heavy passages include a professor giving a brief lecture about the persistent and pernicious British class system.

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On a Saturday evening in 1838, a young Illinois state legislator ascended the pulpit of his hometown Baptist church to deliver a lecture before the Springfield Young Men’s Lyceum.

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You may reasonably lecture your teenager on the dangers of drinking too much, yet you did exactly that on occasion when you were in college.

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Arriving early to a large college lecture and being the only person not on his phone is an uncomfortable feeling.

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Related Words

• admonish 
• chide 
• preach 
• scold