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definitions

taught

[tawt]
See more synonyms for taught on Thesaurus.com
verb
  1. simple past tense and past participle of teach.
Related formshalf-taught, adjectivewell-taught, adjective
Can be confusedtaught taut taunt

teach

[teech]
verb (used with object), taught, teach·ing.
  1. to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in: She teaches mathematics.
  2. to impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to: He teaches a large class.
verb (used without object), taught, teach·ing.
  1. to impart knowledge or skill; give instruction.
noun
  1. 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. 2018

Related Words for taught

directed, educated, informed, trained, learned

Examples from the Web for taught

Contemporary Examples of taught

Historical Examples of taught

  • The girls I know are taught painstakingly how to get a husband, but nothing of how to be a wife.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Aldonza had certainly not taught him the phrases he was so fond of repeating.

    The Armourer's Prentices

    Charlotte M. Yonge

  • The endless struggle for life had taught the survivors many things.

    Ancient Man

    Hendrik 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.

British Dictionary definitions for taught

taught

verb
  1. the past tense and past participle of teach

Teach

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

teach

verb teaches, teaching or taught
  1. (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
  2. to give instruction or lessons in (a subject) to (a person or animal)to teach French; to teach children; she teaches
  3. (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
  4. 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

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

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper