Phrase guide

teach someone a lesson

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

verb

Meaning 1

To punish someone for a serious transgression they have committed so that they do not commit it again.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: have someone's head, fix someone's wagon, nail someone to the wall, amerce, castigate, chasten, chastise, come down on, correct, have someone's guts for garters, have someone's hide, give it to someone, give someone what for, give what for, gruel, malavogue, penalize, penance, punish, tan someone's hide, tar out, teach someone a lesson

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 給...點兒顏色看 /给...点儿颜色看 (gěi...diǎnr yánsè kàn) — punish (informal)
  • Chinese Mandarin: 教训 (jiàoxùn) — punish (informal)
  • Dutch: mores leren — punish (informal)
  • Finnish: antaa jollekin opetus — punish (informal)
  • French: donner une leçon — punish (informal)
  • German: eine Lektion erteilen — punish (informal)
  • Hungarian: megleckéztet — punish (informal)
  • Italian: dare una lezione — punish (informal)
  • Japanese: 目に物見せる (me ni monomiseru) — punish (informal)
  • Japanese: 思い知らせる (omoishiraseru) — punish (informal)
  • Korean: 혼내다 (honnaeda) — punish (informal)
  • Polish: dawać nauczkę — punish (informal)
  • Polish: dać nauczkę — punish (informal)
  • Polish: pokazać, gdzie raki zimują — punish (informal)
  • Polish: pokazać, gdzie pieprz rośnie — punish (informal)
  • Portuguese: mostrar o que é bom pra tosse — punish (informal)
  • Romanian: învăța minte — punish (informal)
  • Russian: проучи́ть (proučítʹ) — punish (informal)
  • Russian: показа́ть, где ра́ки зиму́ют (pokazátʹ, gde ráki zimújut) — punish (informal)
  • Russian: показа́ть ку́зькину мать (pokazátʹ kúzʹkinu matʹ) — punish (informal)
  • Spanish: dar una lección — punish (informal)
  • Swedish: lära en läxa — punish (informal)
  • Swedish: läxa upp — punish (informal)
  • Ukrainian: показа́ти де ра́ки зиму́ють (pokazáty de ráky zymújutʹ) — punish (informal)