teach
verb (used with object)
to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in.
teach
1 American
[teech]
/ titʃ /
verb (used with object)
-
teaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taught,
past participle, past
-
teaching
present participle
-
to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in.
She teaches mathematics.
- Synonyms:
- coach
-
to impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to.
He teaches a large class.
- Synonyms:
- coach, indoctrinate, school, drill, discipline, enlighten, inform
verb (used without object)
-
teaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taught,
past participle, past
-
teaching
present participle
noun
-
teaches
plural
Teach
2
American
[teech]
/ titʃ /
noun
teach
1
British
/ tiːtʃ /
verb
-
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 understand
experience 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
Teach
2
British
/ tiːtʃ /
noun
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
teachsimple
-
teachessimple
-
have taughtperfect
-
has taughtperfect
-
am teachingprogressive
-
are teachingprogressive
-
is teachingprogressive
-
have been teachingperfect progressive
-
has been teachingperfect progressive
Past
-
taughtsimple
-
had taughtperfect
-
was teachingprogressive
-
were teachingprogressive
-
had been teachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of teach
First recorded before 900; Middle English techen, Old English tǣcan; akin to token
Explanation
To teach is to transfer ideas or skills to another person. As an old saying goes, "Give someone a fish, they eat for a day, teach someone to fish and they eat for a lifetime." I hope they like seafood. The Old English word tǣcan, which became the Middle English techen, meant "to show or point out." But the Old English also had another word for teach — læran — which eventually became the modern "learn," with the current meaning of receiving knowledge rather than giving it. If someone tries to "teach you a lesson," he or she tries to punish you for something you've done in order that you won't do it again.
Vocabulary lists containing teach
Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Yes, it’s so valuable to teach our children to normalize repair and accountability, and to make it not such a massive deal to apologize.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Meanwhile, parents, take this as a reminder to teach your kids early to think multiple moves ahead in life.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
A number of S6 pupils have volunteered to work with Laycock on how best to teach AI to the rest of the school.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
“It doesn’t need to be the New York Philharmonic in the operating room, but as a system for communicating information effectively, music has a lot to teach us.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Sela beaded and spoke Kanyen’kéha well enough to teach.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Appeared in the September 9, 2026, print edition as 'What They Teach Teachers in Grad School'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Teach people that discernment requires looking behind the label, and eventually they may look behind yours, too.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
As a Teach for America corps member, Laura taught first graders in Houston.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The scheme would be similar to Teach First, a charity which trains graduates as teachers and places them in schools.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
“More strategy. More bladework. Teach me everything you know.”
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
"Jesus teaches us to forgive and I have, but what we are asking for is accountability."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
He also is an attorney and teaches history and political science at Cal State Northridge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ingold said that she teaches samizdat to combat these practices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation applied last year to the Oklahoma charter school board to open a virtual charter that teaches “state-approved academic standards alongside Jewish religious studies.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
“Solitude, young one, teaches many things not found within the walls of your Academy.”
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
We’ve been taught in our culture that good people don’t fight, and that if you are going to get into a fight, it’s not with the people you love.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
He says young people need to be taught to be sceptical of any AI output and then go and check it to determine whether it is a genuine fact.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
It taught me to always give music a chance, no matter how ugly the art or how crusty the jewel case.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
The long-forgotten experiment at Tanjil Bren has taught us that there are options available for managing our forests beyond clearfelling that can contribute to the societal demand for wood, maintain carbon stocks, and conserve biodiversity.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Such perfect control is only possible when a child is taken at an early age and carefully and continually taught to practice the muscles which grow stiff in later years.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
The good ones recognize and support real teaching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Lecornu's office said 85 teaching staff have also been injured.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
He picked up his father’s old guitar and began learning to play, experimenting with the strings and teaching himself along the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
He has said they started teaching him advanced physics in kindergarten and by ninth grade, he had begun crafting plans to start a company someday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
At the end of my second year teaching, I took a group of students and parents to Kenya during the summer vacation.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
