taught
[tawt]
- simple past tense and past participle of teach.
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teach
[teech]
- to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in: She teaches mathematics.
- to impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to: He teaches a large class.
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- to impart knowledge or skill; give instruction.
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- Informal. teacher.
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Origin of teach
Synonym study
Teach, instruct, tutor, train, educate share the meaning of imparting information, understanding, or skill. Teach is the broadest and most general of these terms and can refer to almost any practice that causes others to develop skill or knowledge: to teach children to write; to teach marksmanship to soldiers; to teach tricks to a dog. Instruct almost always implies a systematic, structured method of teaching: to instruct paramedics in techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Tutor refers to the giving of usually private instruction or coaching in a particular subject or skill: to tutor a child in ( a foreign language, algebra, history, or the like ). Train lays stress on the development of desired behaviors through practice, discipline, or the use of rewards or punishments: to train a child to be polite; to train recruits in military skills; to train a dog to heel. Educate, with a root sense of “to lead forth from,” refers to the imparting of a specific body of knowledge, especially one that equips a person to practice a profession: to educate a person for a high-school diploma; to educate someone for the law.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for taught
Contemporary Examples
Boys are taught early in life to devalue care, to be hyper-competitive, super-achieving men.
Brother Victor had taught my brother, Jeff, the previous year with far greater success.
“What Miss Couple has taught me is how deep and meaningful a BDSM relationship can be,” he said.
Western culture has taught us that it is getting better for members of the LGBT community.
The other subject he taught at VMI was something he knew a great deal about, too: artillery.
Historical Examples
The girls I know are taught painstakingly how to get a husband, but nothing of how to be a wife.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Aldonza had certainly not taught him the phrases he was so fond of repeating.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
The endless struggle for life had taught the survivors many things.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
Mr Clayton had taught me wisdom, which his own bad conduct could not sully or affect.
All these things Uncle Jasper had taught Andrew long and long before.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
taught
- the past tense and past participle of teach
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Teach
- Edward, known as Blackbeard. died 1718, English pirate, active in the West Indies and on the Atlantic coast of North America
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teach
- (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive often foll by how) to help to learn; tell or show (how)to teach someone to paint; to teach someone how to paint
- to give instruction or lessons in (a subject) to (a person or animal)to teach French; to teach children; she teaches
- (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to cause to learn or understandexperience taught him that he could not be a journalist
- Also: teach someone a lesson informal to cause (someone) to suffer the unpleasant consequences of some action or behaviour
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Word Origin
Old English tǣcan; related to tācen token, Old Frisian tēken, Old Saxon tēkan, Old High German zeihhan, Old Norse teikn sign
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for taught
past tense of teach, from Old English tahte (see teach).
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teach
v.
Old English tæcan (past tense and past participle tæhte) "to show, point out," also "to give instruction," from Proto-Germanic *taikijanan (cf. Old High German zihan, German zeihen "to accuse," Gothic ga-teihan "to announce"), from PIE *deik- "to show, point out" (see diction). Related to Old English tacen, tacn "sign, mark" (see token). Related: Taught; teaching.
Old English tæcan had more usually a sense of "show, declare, warn, persuade" (cf. German zeigen "to show," from the same root); while the Old English word for "to teach, instruct, guide" was more commonly læran, source of modern learn and lore.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper