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.
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, 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.
First recorded before 900; Middle English techen, Old English tǣcan; akin to token
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.
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Paralympic swimmer Jamal Hill founded Swim Up Hill with a goal to teach underprivileged children how to swim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
"They used to teach us word by word. They taught us how to cross the road. Look left, right."
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Animals can teach us to see, but dogs actively point the way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
More outreach is needed to teach at-risk populations about brain health and tackling underlying chronic diseases that contribute to risks for cognitive decline, AARP’s Rodriguez said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
I’ve been trying to teach her to use the toilet, which is why she calls me Pooperman.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Teach slavery and Reconstruction with the same seriousness as the Constitution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
He added: "What politicians in London are talking about is essentially a return to the era of the pirate Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard."
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
The charity Now Teach, set up by former Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway after she trained as a teacher herself at the age of 58, said one solution lay in career changers.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2025
Randomly, I saw a Teach for America group promoting in the quad at school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
After he went to Brown University for graduate school, Bill traveled around Europe for a while, and when he came home, he joined Teach for America.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
Nelson works from home running her business which teaches wedding dance lessons to newlyweds, and summer is her busiest time.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
"I have one pupil I'm particularly concerned about," says Francesca Pecce, who teaches at the school.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Mr. Hart teaches history at Hillsdale College and is the author of “Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
She told me, “You seem to love watercolors,” and mentioned that the artist who painted them, Pamela Harnois, lives in Los Angeles and teaches nearby.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Dad said maybe I could drive it too if Mom said it was okay, after Violet teaches him how to work it.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
A big secret of the ambitious McCreary’s success harks back to lessons of simplicity that Bernstein taught him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
As I stared into his tired eye, I remembered what he and Hook taught us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
But governments answer, eventually, to publics—and a public that has stood shoulder to shoulder with the people it was taught to fear is harder to march to war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Techniquely,” refreshingly, is about teaching foodies the things that their mothers and Julia Child never taught them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
“I saw a peddler play a saw once when I was just a pup, so I taught myself to play. Pop thought I was a fool at first,” Calvin said.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
During the ‘60s and ‘70s, she took on a series of part-time jobs to provide for her children, designing costumes at a cultural center and teaching at area art schools.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
But then Florida homeschoolers tried to enroll, so Helton transformed the business to also offer in-person teaching two days a week for homeschool students out of a sleek coworking space.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Colleagues have described him as a respected lecturer whose popularity stems from his teaching rather than political activism.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Techniquely,” refreshingly, is about teaching foodies the things that their mothers and Julia Child never taught them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Like when Mrs. Chilcoat was teaching us the song “Waltzing Matilda,” Sage kept singing “farting fat Hilda” instead.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
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.
