v., taught (tôt), teach·ing, teach·es. v.tr.
- To impart knowledge or skill to: teaches children.
- To provide knowledge of; instruct in: teaches French.
- To condition to a certain action or frame of mind: teaching youngsters to be self-reliant.
- To cause to learn by example or experience: an accident that taught me a valuable lesson.
- To advocate or preach: teaches racial and religious tolerance.
- To carry on instruction on a regular basis in: taught high school for many years.
To give instruction, especially as an occupation.
[Middle English techen, from Old English tǣcan.]
SYNONYMS teach, instruct, educate, train, school, discipline, drill. These verbs mean to impart knowledge or skill. Teach is the most widely applicable: taught the child to draw; taught literature at the college. Instruct usually suggests methodical teaching: instructed the undergraduates in music theory. Educate often implies formal instruction but especially stresses the development of innate capacities: "We are educated by others ... and this cultivation, mingling with our innate disposition, is the soil in which our desires, passions, and motives grow" (Mary Shelley). Train suggests concentration on particular skills intended to fit a person for a desired role: trained the vocational students to be computer technicians. School often implies an arduous learning process: schooled the youngster to play the viola. Discipline usually refers to the teaching of control, especially self-control: disciplined myself to exercise every day. Drill implies rigorous instruction or training, often by repetition of a routine: drilled the students by having them recite the multiplication tables.
