Lecture
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
"During class today the professor delivered an interesting lecture."
- 2 teaching by giving a discourse on some subject (typically to a class) wordnet
- 3 A class that primarily consists of a (weekly or other regularly held) lecture (as in sense 1), usually at college or university. broadly
"We will not have lecture tomorrow."
- 4 a lengthy rebuke wordnet
- 5 A berating or scolding, especially if lengthy, formal or given in a stern or angry manner.
"I really don't want you to give me a lecture about my bad eating habits."
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- 6 a speech that is open to the public wordnet
- 7 The act of reading. obsolete
"the lecture of Holy Scripture"
- 1 To teach (somebody) by giving a speech on a given topic. ambitransitive
"The professor lectured to two classes this morning."
- 2 censure severely or angrily wordnet
- 3 To preach, to berate, to scold. transitive
"Emily's father lectured her about the importance of being home before midnight."
- 4 deliver a lecture or talk wordnet
Example
More examples"The data suggest that the optimum length of a lecture may be 30 instead of 60 minutes."
Etymology
From Middle English lecture, lectour, letture, letteur, lettur, lectury, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin lectura (“reading”), from Latin lectus, past participle of legō (“I read, I recite”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.