lesson

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A set period of time in which a teacher shows or explains something to a learner or a class.

   Grammar: Use a/the with it or make it plural: a piano lesson, three lessons a week.

   Patterns

   • a lesson in something
   • give someone a lesson
   • take lessons

   My daughter has a swimming lesson every Tuesday after school.

   The history lesson ran ten minutes over because everyone had questions.

   He pays for private lessons so he can pass the driving test.

2. 2nouncountable

   Something useful that you understand after an experience, especially a mistake or a warning, which guides what you do next.

   Grammar: Often used with learn or teach: learn a lesson, teach someone a lesson.

   Patterns

   • learn a lesson from something
   • teach someone a lesson
   • a lesson for someone

   Losing the files taught us a lesson about making backups.

   The company learned a hard lesson from its failed launch.

   Let that be a lesson to you, and check the address before you send it.

Word forms

Common combinations

learn a lesson

I hope the team learns a lesson from this defeat.

teach someone a lesson

The cold night in the tent taught him a lesson about packing properly.

a valuable lesson

Waiting tables was a valuable lesson in patience.

give a lesson

She gives violin lessons in her living room.

lessons learned

The report lists the lessons learned during the flood response.

Synonyms and how they differ

class

Class stresses the group of students or the scheduled meeting, while lesson stresses what is being taught in that session.

tutorial

A tutorial is usually a smaller or more guided session, or a step-by-step guide, whereas a lesson can be any teaching period.

moral

Moral is the message of a story or event, and it focuses on right and wrong, while lesson is wider and can be purely practical.

warning

A warning looks ahead to danger, while a lesson is what you take from something that has already happened.

Word family

lesson plan noun

a teacher's outline of what will happen in a class

lessons-learned adjective

describing a review of what a project taught the team

lessen verb

to make or become smaller (different word, similar spelling)

Commonly confused: lesson or lessen? lesson or course?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “lesson”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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