learn

[lurn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR learn ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), learned [lurnd] /lɜrnd/ or learnt, learn·ing.

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.

(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), learned [lurnd] /lɜrnd/ or learnt, learn·ing.

to acquire knowledge or skill: to learn rapidly.

to become informed (usually followed by of): to learn of an accident.

Origin of learn

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

Related formslearn·a·ble, adjectivemis·learn, verb, mis·learned or mis·learnt, mis·learn·ing.out·learn, verb (used with object), out·learned or out·learnt, out·learn·ing.re·learn, verb, re·learned or re·learnt, re·learn·ing.

Can be confusedlearn teach

Synonym study

1. Learn, ascertain, detect, discover imply adding to one's store of facts. To learn is to add to one's knowledge or information: to learn a language. To ascertain is to verify facts by inquiry or analysis: to ascertain the truth about an event. To detect implies becoming aware of something that had been obscure, secret, or concealed: to detect a flaw in reasoning. To discover is used with objective clauses as a synonym of learn in order to suggest that the new information acquired is surprising to the learner: I discovered that she had been married before.

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

Related Words for relearn

cram, refurbish, renovate, reread, retouch, review, revise, study, relearn

Examples from the Web for relearn

Contemporary Examples of relearn

They also relearn simple tasks, such as how to cook, make a bed, and go to the grocery store.
Dysfunctional Congress Prepares to Claim Another Victim: Injured Veterans
Tim Mak
July 23, 2014
It took me about two years to unwind the tension, so in that time, I almost had to relearn how to sing.
La Roux Discusses New Album ‘Trouble in Paradise,’ the 5-Year Gap, and Embracing Her Androgyny
Marlow Stern
July 6, 2014
I had to go back and relearn a lot of what I thought I knew.
Historical Fiction: A Conversation Between Bruce Holsinger and Nancy Bilyeau
Nancy Bilyeau, Bruce Holsinger
March 30, 2014
He had to go to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago four different times to relearn walking.
The Resilient Roger Ebert
Gail Sheehy
January 22, 2011
She had to relearn how to do everything—from picking up objects to opening doors to feeding herself.
Hope After An Unspeakable Crime
JuJu Chang
August 27, 2010

Historical Examples of relearn

I must relearn a soldier's drill in the manual and in everything.
Who Goes There?
Blackwood Ketcham Benson
One lesson he had learned, which he never needed to relearn.
William Lloyd Garrison
Archibald H. Grimke
One human lifetime is too infinitesimally small to relearn procedures that have taken aeons to develop.
The Great Gray Plague
Raymond F. Jones
This reform of the Alphabet would oblige people to relearn the language, or it could not be introduced.
Dissertation on the English Language
Noah Webster, Jr.
He measured the loss by the number of seconds required to relearn the list after it had been once learned.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885
Various

British Dictionary definitions for relearn

relearn

verb -learns, -learning, -learned or -learnt (tr)

to learn (something previously known) again

learn

verb learns, learning, learned (lɜːnd) or learnt

(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

(tr) to gain by experience, example, etc

(intr; often foll by of or about) to become informed; know

not standard to teach

Derived Formslearnable, adjective

Word Origin for learn

Old English leornian; related to Old High German lirnen

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 relearn

learn

Old English leornian "to get knowledge, be cultivated, study, read, think about," from Proto-Germanic *liznojan (cf. Old Frisian lernia, Middle Dutch leeren, Dutch leren, Old High German lernen, German lernen "to learn," Gothic lais "I know"), with a base sense of "to follow or find the track," from PIE *leis- "track." Related to German Gleis "track," and to Old English læst "sole of the foot" (see last (n.)).

The transitive sense (He learned me how to read), now vulgar, was acceptable from c.1200 until early 19c., from Old English læran "to teach" (cf. Dutch leren, German lehren "to teach," literally "to make known;" see lore), and is preserved in past participle adjective learned "having knowledge gained by study." Related: Learning.

Idioms and Phrases with relearn

learn

In addition to the idioms beginning with learn

learn by heart
learn one's lesson
learn to live with

also see:

by heart, learn
little knowledge (learning) is a dangerous thing
live and learn