# teach

/ˈtitʃ/ (US) · /tˈiːtʃ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/teach
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. to give lessons

verb · CEFR A1

to help someone learn a subject or a skill by giving them information or practice.

For teachers: to impart knowledge or skill to a student; often used ditransitively with both a person and a subject as objects.

- My father taught me how to ride a bike in the park last summer.
- The professor taught advanced calculus to the undergraduates, focusing on practical applications in engineering and physics.

Usage: Often takes two objects: 'He taught the children (1) history (2)'.

### 2. to work as a teacher

verb · CEFR A2

to have a job as a teacher in a school or college.

For teachers: to follow the profession of a teacher; used intransitively to describe one's occupation.

- She has been teaching at the local primary school for ten years.
- After retiring from the private sector, he decided to teach at the community college to share his industry experience with younger students.

Usage: Used without an object to describe a career.

### 3. to show consequences

verb · CEFR B2

to make someone learn a lesson through a bad experience so they do not do it again.

For teachers: to cause an individual to understand the negative consequences of an action through experience or punishment.

- Losing his phone taught him to be more careful with his things.
- The harsh winter taught the settlers that they needed to store significantly more grain than they had originally anticipated.

Usage: Often used in the phrase 'that will teach you'.

### 4. informal name for a teacher

noun · CEFR C1 · Informal · Slang

a casual way to address or talk about a teacher.

For teachers: An informal term of address or nickname for a teacher.

- Hey Teach, do we have any homework for the weekend?
- The students affectionately referred to their history instructor as 'Teach' whenever they met him outside the formal classroom environment.

Teaching tip: This is very casual and can sometimes be seen as disrespectful depending on the school culture.

## Examples

- She wants to teach English in Japan next year.
- My grandfather used to teach me how to fix old clocks in his workshop every Saturday morning.
- Experienced educators often find that they must adapt their methods to teach students with diverse learning styles and varying levels of prior knowledge.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.