lesson

[les-uh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lesson ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a section into which a course of study is divided, especially a single, continuous session of formal instruction in a subject: The manual was broken down into 50 lessons.

a part of a book, an exercise, etc., that is assigned to a student for study: The lesson for today is on page 22. He worked assiduously at his music lesson.

something to be learned or studied: the lessons of the past.

a useful piece of practical wisdom acquired by experience or study: That accident certainly taught him a lesson in careful driving.

something from which a person learns or should learn; an instructive example: Her faith should serve as a lesson to all of us.

a reproof or punishment intended to teach one better ways.

a portion of Scripture or other sacred writing read or appointed to be read at a divine service; lection; pericope.

verb (used with object)

to teach; instruct; give a lesson to.

to admonish or reprove.

Origin of lesson

1175–1225; Middle English lesso(u)n < Old French leçon < Latin lēctiōn- (stem of lēctiō) lection

Can be confusedlessen lesson

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lesson

practice, task, study, instruction, reading, teaching, test, lecture, education, class, exercise, homework, message, warning, assignment, schooling, recitation, period, drill, quiz

Examples from the Web for lesson

Contemporary Examples of lesson

The second lesson is that no one writing before the twentieth century holds a key to our problems.
American Democracy Under Threat for 250 Years
Jedediah Purdy
December 28, 2014
The testimony is damning: the world has not learned its lesson.
The Man Who Invented the Word ‘Genocide’
Nina Strochlic
November 19, 2014
The question is whether universities will learn their lesson.
How The University of Wisconsin Badgers Are Bucking the Big Ten Ticket Flop
Brian Weidy
October 31, 2014
So maybe we should take a lesson from women with brass ovaries: comedy and feminism are longstanding bedfellows.
Comedians and Feminism Getting Laughs
Agunda Okeyo
October 23, 2014
Isn't it time Kate took a lesson from her grandmother-in-law and weighted down those skirts against the pesky wind?
Kate. Sweetie. Get Some Hem Weights.
Tom Sykes
October 22, 2014

Historical Examples of lesson

You'd better not tell him so, or he might give you a lesson in politeness.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
The healthy and the young might read a lesson on her blanched and wrinkled cheek.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
He had learned his lesson of experience, and profited thereby.
A Night Out
Edward Peple
And after the lesson he had given them but the night before!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
The use of a Scripture lesson is, of course, optional with the pastor.
An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism
Joseph Stump

British Dictionary definitions for lesson

lesson

noun

a unit, or single period of instruction in a subject; classan hour-long music lesson
the content of such a unit

material assigned for individual study

something from which useful knowledge or principles can be learned; example

the principles, knowledge, etc, gained

a reprimand or punishment intended to correct

a portion of Scripture appointed to be read at divine service

verb

(tr) rare to censure or punish

Word Origin for lesson

C13: from Old French leçon, from Latin lēctiō, from legere to read

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lesson

early 13c., "a reading aloud from the Bible," also "something to be learned by a student," from Old French leçon, from Latin lectionem (nominative lectio) "a reading," noun of action from past participle stem of legere "to read" (see lecture (n.)). Transferred sense of "an occurrence from which something can be learned" is from 1580s.

Idioms and Phrases with lesson

lesson

see learn one's lesson; teach a lesson.