Word.ws English Dictionary

taught someone a lesson

taught someone a lesson is the simple past and past participle of teach someone a lesson.

Meaning of teach someone a lesson

Verb

teach someone a lesson (third-person singular simple present teaches someone a lesson, present participle teaching someone a lesson, simple past and past participle taught someone a lesson)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To punish someone for a serious transgression they have committed so that they do not commit it again.

Questions about taught someone a lesson

What is taught someone a lesson the simple past and past participle of?
Taught someone a lesson is the simple past and past participle of teach someone a lesson.

Words near taught someone a lesson in the dictionary

  1. Taughannock
  2. taught
  3. taught away
  4. taught grandma how to suck eggs
  5. taught grandma to suck eggs
  6. taught someone a lesson
  7. taught someone who was the boss
  8. taught the controversy
  9. taughte
  10. taughten
  11. taughtened

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taught someone a lesson (page history and authors); teach someone a lesson (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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