lesson

English

Etymology

From Middle English lessoun, from Old French leçon, from Latin lēctiō, lēctiōnem (“a reading”), from legō (“I read, I gather”). Doublet of lection.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈlɛsn̩/
  • Audio(file)
  • Homophone: lessen
  • Hyphenation: les‧son
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛsən

Noun

lesson (plural lessons)

  1. A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
    In our school a typical working week consists of around twenty lessons and ten hours of related laboratory work.
  2. A learning task assigned to a student; homework.
  3. Something learned or to be learned.
    Nature has many lessons to teach to us.
  4. Something that serves as a warning or encouragement.
    I hope this accident taught you a lesson!
    The accident was a good lesson to me.
  5. A section of the Bible or other religious text read as part of a divine service.
    Here endeth the first lesson.
  6. A severe lecture; reproof; rebuke; warning.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Philip Sidney
      She would give her a lesson for walking so late.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
  7. (music) An exercise; a composition serving an educational purpose; a study.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
section of the Bible or other religious text read as part of a divine service
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

lesson (third-person singular simple present lessons, present participle lessoning, simple past and past participle lessoned)

  1. To give a lesson to; to teach.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vi:
      her owne daughter Pleasure, to whom shee / Made her companion, and her lessoned / In all the lore of loue, and goodly womanhead.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Byron
      To rest the weary, and to soothe the sad, / Doth lesson happier men, and shame at least the bad.

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

lesson

  1. Alternative form of lessoun
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