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lesson
teach someone a lesson
to get even with someone for bad behavior. John tripped me, so I punched him. That ought to teach him a lesson. That taught me a lesson. I won't do it again.
learn a/your lesson
to understand something because of an unpleasant experience We learned a lesson from last year's failure to reform health care. You hope that prisoners will say, “I don't want to end up back in jail again – I've learned my lesson.”
teach (somebody) a lesson
also teach a lesson to somebody to show what should not be done You would think that losing her job because she took too much time off would have taught her a lesson, but it's happened again! He had this idea that the government is evil and must be taught a lesson, so he blew up a government office.
learn your lesson
to learn something useful about life from an unpleasant experience I'm never going to mix my drinks again - I've learnt my lesson.
See know by heartteach somebody a lesson
to punish someone so that they will not behave badly again The next time she's late, go without her. That should teach her a lesson.
learn one's lesson
Profit from experience, especially an unhappy one. For example,
From now on she'd read the instructions first; she'd learned her lesson. Also see
hard way.
read a lecture
Also,
read a lesson. Issue a reprimand, as in
Dad read us a lecture after the teacher phoned and complained. The first term dates from the late 1500s, the variant from the early 1600s. Also see
read the riot act;
teach a lesson.
teach a lesson
Punish in order to prevent a recurrence of bad behavior. For example,
Timmy set the wastebasket on fire; that should teach him a lesson about playing with matches . This term uses
lesson in the sense of "a punishment or rebuke," a usage dating from the late 1500s. Also see
learn one's lesson.