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lesson Definition

les·son (les′ən)

noun

  1. something to be learned; specif.,
    1. an exercise or assignment that a student is to prepare or learn within a given time; unit of instruction
    2. the instruction given during one class or instruction period
    3. something that needs to be learned (or the event through which it is learned) for the sake of one's safety, well-being, etc.
    4. course of instruction music lessons
  2. a selection, as of Scripture, forming part of a religious service; lection
  3. a rebuke; reproof

Etymology: ME lessoun < OFr leçon < L lectio, a reading, hence text, lesson < pp. of legere, to read: see logic

transitive verb

  1. to give a lesson to
  2. to rebuke; reprove

lesson Synonyms

lesson

n.

  1. An instructive assignment

    recitation, drill, reading; see exercise 2.

  2. Instruction

    teaching, tutoring, schooling; see education 1.

  3. Anything instructive

    helpful word, good example, noble action; see model 2.

lesson Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • learn: Have we not learned a lesson from the railways?
  • surf: Clothing Equipment Vouchers For any information on surfing lessons in.. .
  • teach: Some wanted to teach a general lesson to Moslems not to challenge Western domination of the world.
  • swim: Special Needs swimming lessons take place at Teddington Pool every day of the week.
  • draw: We will draw lessons about authority from the four incidents recorded in the chapter.

Adjective modifier

  • valuable: Many believe there are valuable lessons to be learned from my own case which I describe on my website ( address below ).
  • salutary: They give a salutary lesson of the danger of accepting EU bribes.
  • instrumental: Individual instrumental lessons are offered to full time students.
  • English: In the English lesson, student texts were to be the objects of analysis.
  • Spanish: Each day, we had three hours of Spanish lessons with two teachers who both claimed not to be able to speak English.
  • previous: Create a Column chart from the new data you created in the previous lesson.

Modifies a noun

  • plan: Writing activity for Year 7 Macbeth Discussion Do these sample lesson plans reflect your approach to lesson planning?
  • observation: You could use lesson observations by your mentor, by the class teacher or by your tutor to help with this assignment.

Noun used with modifier

  • swimming: We have lessons suitable for babies, all the way up to adult swimming lessons.
  • piano: Well, driving home past the church where I had my first piano lesson, I get that feeling again.
  • surfing: There is no maximum physical age for a surfing lesson ( it's all a state of mind ).
  • maths: Speed equals distance divided by time we learned in early maths lessons.
  • elocution: Do not be afraid to take elocution lessons if needed. or to consult with a more experienced preacher regarding style and presentation.
  • cookery: Other highlights include evening cookery lessons, the sites of Cochin and harbor cruise.
lesson Quotes

To be thoroughly conversant with a Man'sheart istotake our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of despair.

—Poe, EdgarAllan

He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

Your experience will be a lesson to all of us men to be careful not to marry ladies in very high positions.

—Amin (Dada), Idi

In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.

—Miller, Henry Valentine

God knows that the lesson we learn from life is that our very existence in the nature of things is a perpetual harming of somebody elseöif only because every mouthful of food that we eat is a mouthful taken from somebody else.

—Ford, Ford Madox originally Ford Hermann Hueffer

However far modern science and technics have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson: Nothing is impossible.

—Mumford, Lewis

No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you should never trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. Theyall require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense.

—Marquis of

   The Internet has taken shape with startlingly little planning† The most universal and indispensable network on the planet somehow burgeoned without so muchasa boardofdirectors, never minda mergers-and- acquisitions department. There is a paradoxical lesson here for strategists. In economic terms, the great corporations are acting like socialist planners, while old- fashioned free-market capitalism blossoms at their feet.

—Gleick,James

We said to the Chinese,'You have behaved very ill; we have had to teach you better manners; it has cost us something to do it, but we will send our bill in, and you must pay our charges.' That was done, and they have certainly profited by the lesson. They have become free traders too.

—Palmerston, HenryJohnTemple, 3rd Viscount

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

—Nabokov,Vladimir

Teach him how to live, And, oh! still harder lesson! how to die.

—Porteus, Beilby