Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To gain knowledge of or skill in through study, instruction, or experience.
  • intransitive verb To become aware or informed of; find out: synonym: discover.
  • intransitive verb To fix in the mind or memory; memorize.
  • intransitive verb Nonstandard To cause to acquire knowledge; teach.
  • intransitive verb Obsolete To give information to.
  • intransitive verb To gain knowledge, information, comprehension, or skill.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in; become informed of or acquainted with: as, to learn grammar; to learn the truth.
  • To teach.
  • To acquire or receive knowledge, information, or intelligence; receive instruction; profit from teaching: as, to learn how to act; the child learns rapidly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To acquire knowledge or skill; to make progress in acquiring knowledge or skill; to receive information or instruction.
  • intransitive verb See By heart, under Heart.
  • intransitive verb to memorize by repetition without exercise of the understanding.
  • transitive verb To gain knowledge or information of; to ascertain by inquiry, study, or investigation; to receive instruction concerning; to fix in the mind; to acquire understanding of, or skill
  • transitive verb obsolete To communicate knowledge to; to teach.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
  • verb To attend a course or other educational activity.
  • verb To make use of a bad experience.
  • verb To improve, maybe used in an order.
  • verb To be studying.
  • verb To come to know; to become informed of; to find out.
  • verb To teach.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
  • verb find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
  • verb impart skills or knowledge to
  • verb gain knowledge or skills
  • verb commit to memory; learn by heart
  • verb be a student of a certain subject

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English lernen, from Old English leornian; see leis- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English lernen, from Old English leornian ("to acquire knowledge"). Compare German lernen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English læran ("to teach"). Compare German lehren.

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Examples

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  • A contranym: both to be taught or to teach. ("I'm gonna learn you!")

    May 15, 2008