learn S1 W1 / lɜn $ lɜrn / 动词 ( past tense and past participle learned or learnt / lɜnt $ lɜrnt / especially British English )

1 subject/skill [不及物和及物动词] to gain knowledge of a subject or skill, by experience, by studying it, or by being taught → teach :

What’s the best way to learn a language?

learn (how) to do something

I learnt to drive when I was 17.

Hector spent the winter learning how to cope with his blindness.

The teacher’s task is to help the pupil learn.

learn (something) from somebody

I learned a lot from my father.

learn about

Kids can have fun and learn about music at the same time.

learn what

Youngsters must learn what is dangerous and what is not to be feared.

The student will learn from experience about the importance of planning. ► Do not say that you ‘learn someone something’ or ‘learn someone how to do something’. Use teach : I taught him how to send an email.

2 find out [不及物和及物动词] formal to find out information or news by hearing it from someone else or reading it 同义词 discover :

I didn’t tell her the truth. She would learn it for herself soon enough.

learn of/about

He learned about his appointment by telephone yesterday.

learn (that)

Last week I learned that I was pregnant.

She was surprised to learn that he was a lot older than she had thought.

learn whether/who/why

I waited to learn whether I’d secured a college place.

We have yet to learn who will be the new manager.

3 remember [及物动词] to get to know something so well that you can easily remember it 同义词 memorize :

The actors hardly had time to learn their lines before filming started.

4 change your behaviour [不及物和及物动词] to gradually understand a situation and start behaving in the way that you should

learn (that)

They have to learn that they can’t just do whatever they like.

learn to do something

Young hairdressers must learn to treat the client as a person, not a head of hair.

I’ve told him a hundred times not to bully people, but he never learns .

learn from

You have to learn from your mistakes (= understand why what you did was wrong ) .

the lessons learned in the Gulf War

5 somebody has learned their lesson used to say that someone will not do something wrong or stupid again, because they suffered as a result :

I’ve learned my lesson; I’ve now got a burglar alarm and a guard dog.

6 learn (something) the hard way to understand a situation or develop a skill by learning from your mistakes and bad experiences

7 that’ll learn somebody! spoken used when something bad has just happened to someone as a result of their actions, especially when they ignored a warning

→ live and learn at live 1 ( 20 )

THESAURUS

learn to gain knowledge of a subject or skill, especially by being taught or trained : How long have you been learning Italian? | What age can you learn to drive in America?

study to learn about a subject by reading books, going to classes etc, especially at school or university : She’s studying music at Berkeley College in California.

train to learn the skills and get the experience that you need in order to do a particular job : Julie’s training to be a nurse.

pick something up to learn something without much effort, by watching or listening to other people : It’s easy to pick up a language when you’re living in a country. | The rules of the game are easy – you’ll soon pick them up.

get the hang of something informal to learn how to do or use something that is fairly complicated, especially with practice : It took me a while to get the hang of all the features on my new camera.

revise British English , review American English to study facts again, especially on your own, in order to learn them before an examination : Jenny’s upstairs revising for her Maths exam tomorrow.

master to learn something so well that you have no difficulty with it, especially a skill or a language : She gave me a book called ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’. | I learnt Spanish for years but I never really mastered it.