taught

[ tawt ]

/ tɔt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR taught ON THESAURUS.COM

verb

simple past tense and past participle of teach.

Nearby words

Related formshalf-taught, adjectivewell-taught, adjective

Can be confusedtaught taut taunt

teach

[ teech ]

/ titʃ /

verb (used with object), taught, teach·ing.

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.

verb (used without object), taught, teach·ing.

to impart knowledge or skill; give instruction.

noun

Informal. teacher.

Origin of teach

before 900; Middle English techen, Old English tǣcan; akin to token

Related formso·ver·teach, verb, o·ver·taught, o·ver·teach·ing.pre·teach, verb, pre·taught, pre·teach·ing.re·teach, verb, re·taught, re·teach·ing.un·der·teach, verb, un·der·taught, un·der·teach·ing.

Can be confusedlearn 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. 2019

Examples from the Web for taught

Boys are taught early in life to devalue care, to be hyper-competitive, super-achieving men.
How Good Dads Can Change the World|Gary Barker, PhD, Michael Kaufman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Brother Victor had taught my brother, Jeff, the previous year with far greater success.
Obama’s One Hand Clap With Castro|Doug McIntyre|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“What Miss Couple has taught me is how deep and meaningful a BDSM relationship can be,” he said.
Dungeons and Genital Clamps: Inside a Legendary BDSM Chateau|Ian Frisch|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Western culture has taught us that it is getting better for members of the LGBT community.
A Quorum For Change: The Fight For Global LGBT Equality|Justin Jones|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The other subject he taught at VMI was something he knew a great deal about, too: artillery.
Stonewall Jackson, VMI’s Most Embattled Professor|S. C. Gwynne|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yankee ladies came down from the North and taught us to read and write.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume IV, Georgia Narratives, Part 1|Work Projects Administration
It was not so terribly hard as to be impossible for ordinary men, like some of the holy hermits and Saints in the past had taught.
Stories of the Saints by Candle-Light|Vera C. Barclay
Dickens taught comparatively little about the subjects of instruction or the methods of teaching them.
Dickens As an Educator|James L. (James Laughlin) Hughes
In the first place, we are taught, as nothing else can teach us, what man's heart is toward God.
Elijah the Tishbite|C. (Charles) H. (Henry) Mackintosh
The vulgar are the children of the State, and must be taught like children.'
Life of Johnson|James Boswell

British Dictionary definitions for taught

taught

/ (tɔːt) /

verb

the past tense and past participle of teach

Teach

/ (tiːtʃ) /

noun

Edward, known as Blackbeard. died 1718, English pirate, active in the West Indies and on the Atlantic coast of North America

teach

/ (tiːtʃ) /

verb teaches, teaching or taught

(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

Derived Formsteachable, adjective

Word Origin for teach

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for taught

taught

past tense of teach, from Old English tahte (see teach).

teach

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.

taught

verb

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

teach

verb (used with object), taught, teach·ing.

verb (used without object), taught, teach·ing.

noun

Origin of teach

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for taught

taught

verb

Teach

noun

teach

verb teaches, teaching or taught

Word Origin for teach

taught

teach