lecture
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehkcherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛktʃɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
by extension
A class that primarily consists of a (weekly or other regularly held) lecture (as in sense 1), usually at college or university.
A berating or scolding, especially if lengthy, formal or given in a stern or angry manner.
A lengthy rebuke
“A good lecture was my father's idea of discipline.”
verb
transitive
To preach, to berate, to scold.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
Used this way, lecture is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use lecture
- “A good lecture was my father's idea of discipline.”noun
- “He attended a lecture on telecommunications.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A public lecturer at certain universities.
Teaching by giving a discourse on some subject (typically to a class).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Presentation of an example of what the lecturer is discoursing about.
Classroom where lectures are given.
A series of lectures dealing with a subject.
A speech that is open to the public.
A private lecture to a husband by his wife.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: spoken lesson or exposition
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.