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

The Polish embassy said Smuss "lectured youth on the history of Polish Jews and expressed his memories through art. His legacy endures."

Read more on BBC

For the first 15 months of the Civil War, Douglass filled lecture halls and newspapers with the same plea: Make emancipation the central aim.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

She hosts monthly lectures at her retirement home and plans to take her neighbors to the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Encino later this month.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I don’t want to come off like a world-weary leftist lecturing the sheeple about how AmeriKKKa has always been a fascist nation and there’s nothing special or unusual about 2025.

Read more on Salon

“That was Jay’s superpower: getting people to hear him and not feel like they were being lectured. And modifying their behavior before they get into a situation where search and rescue is called.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• admonish 
• chide 
• preach 
• scold