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definitions

tutor

[too-ter, tyoo-]
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noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

to act as a tutor or private instructor.
to study privately with a tutor.

Origin of tutor

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin tūtor protector, equivalent to tū- (variant stem of tuērī to guard; see tutelage) + -tor -tor
Related formstu·tor·less, adjectivetu·tor·ship, nounmis·tu·tor, verbsub·tu·tor, nounsub·tu·tor·ship, nounun·der·tu·tor, nounwell-tu·tored, adjective

Synonym study

6. See teach.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tutor

lecturer, educator, instructor, teacher, mentor, educate, instruct, coach, preceptor, guardian, governor, grind, teach, guide, prof, discipline, school, edify, direct, update

Examples from the Web for tutor

Contemporary Examples of tutor

Historical Examples of tutor

  • I don't apprehend that a young nobleman ever broke his heart after his tutor.

  • He graduated at Yale college, and was subsequently a tutor in that institution.

  • He came to Weimar with a tutor to learn German when I happened to be living there.

    Roden's Corner

    Henry Seton Merriman

  • She was the daughter of his Cambridge tutor—penniless, pretty, and musical.

    The Coryston Family

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

  • I had no tutor to direct me or take any of the responsibility off me.

    Wilfrid Cumbermede

    George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for tutor

tutor

noun

a teacher, usually instructing individual pupils and often engaged privately
(at universities, colleges, etc) a member of staff responsible for the teaching and supervision of a certain number of students
Scots law the guardian of a pupilSee pupil 1 (def. 2)

verb

to act as a tutor to (someone); instruct
(tr) to act as guardian to; have care of
(intr) mainly US to study under a tutor
(tr) rare to admonish, discipline, or reprimand
Derived Formstutorage or tutorship, noun

Word Origin for tutor

C14: from Latin: a watcher, from tuērī to watch over
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 tutor
n.

late 14c., "guardian, custodian," from Old French tutour "guardian, private teacher," from Latin tutorem (nominative tutor) "guardian, watcher," from tutus, variant past participle of tueri "watch over," of unknown origin. Specific sense of "senior boy appointed to help a junior in his studies" is recorded from 1680s.

v.

1590s, from tutor (n.). Related: Tutored; tutoring.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper