Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An exposition of a given subject delivered before an audience or class, as for the purpose of instruction.
  • noun An earnest admonition or reproof; a reprimand.
  • intransitive verb To deliver a lecture or series of lectures.
  • intransitive verb To deliver a lecture to (a class or audience).
  • intransitive verb To admonish or reprove earnestly, often at length.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of reading; reading.
  • noun A discourse, especially a written discourse, of suitable length for a single reading; a disquisition pronounced or read, or written as if to be read, before an audience; especially, a formal or methodical discourse intended for instruction: as, a lecture on morals; the Bampton lectures.
  • noun A religious discourse of an expository nature, usually based on an extended passage of Scripture; a discourse less methodical and more discursive than a sermon.
  • noun A reprimand, as from a superior; a formal reproof.
  • noun A professorial or tutorial disquisition.
  • noun A lectureship.
  • To instruct by oral discourse.
  • To speak to or address dogmatically or authoritatively; reprimand; reprove: as, to lecture one for his faults.
  • To influence by means of a lecture or formal reprimand: as, he was lectured into doing his duty.
  • To read or deliver a formal discourse; give instruction by oral discourse: as, to lecture on geometry or on chemistry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To read or deliver a lecture to.
  • transitive verb To reprove formally and with authority.
  • intransitive verb To deliver a lecture or lectures.
  • noun obsolete The act of reading.
  • noun A discourse on any subject; especially, a formal or methodical discourse, intended for instruction; sometimes, a familiar discourse, in contrast with a sermon.
  • noun A reprimand or formal reproof from one having authority.
  • noun (Eng. Universities) A rehearsal of a lesson.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to group.
  • noun A berating or scolding.
  • verb To teach, by giving a speech on a given topic.
  • verb To berate, to scold.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb censure severely or angrily
  • noun teaching by giving a discourse on some subject (typically to a class)
  • noun a speech that is open to the public
  • verb deliver a lecture or talk
  • noun a lengthy rebuke

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, a reading, from Old French, from Medieval Latin lēctūra, from Latin lēctus, past participle of legere, to read; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin lectura ("reading"), from Latin lectus, past participle of legō ("I read, I recite").

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Examples

  • The lecture was thought to 'break down,' and indeed it quite did '_as a lecture_'; but only did from _embarras de richesses_ -- a rare case.

    The Life of John Ruskin 1893

  • From the students 'point of view (and let's face it, they're the customers!), the lecture is the least interactive part of a learning experience; the assignments/homework are the most interactive.

    Learning 2010

  • From the students 'point of view (and let's face it, they're the customers!), the lecture is the least interactive part of a learning experience; the assignments/homework are the most interactive.

    inversions 2009

  • From the students 'point of view (and let's face it, they're the customers!), the lecture is the least interactive part of a learning experience; the assignments/homework are the most interactive.

    10 posts from September 2009 2009

  • From the students 'point of view (and let's face it, they're the customers!), the lecture is the least interactive part of a learning experience; the assignments/homework are the most interactive.

    Creativity 2010

  • From the students 'point of view (and let's face it, they're the customers!), the lecture is the least interactive part of a learning experience; the assignments/homework are the most interactive.

    inversions 2009

  • When one takes into consideration all of the above eyewitness accounts of statements made by Prof. Pianka then it becomes apparent that Forrest Mims did not misrepresent what Prof. Pianka said during his March 3, 2006 lecture, and that Forrest Mims's account of the lecture is accurate.

    The Memory Hole 2005

  • Each sentence of his lecture is therefore preprogrammed into his computer, and Hawking controls the pace of its delivery through his limited hand movement and the cursor.

    Boing Boing: October 19, 2003 - October 25, 2003 Archives 2003

  • What I call Japan's 'ambiguity' in my lecture is a kind of chronic disease that has been prevalent throughout the modern age.

    Kenzaburo Oe - Nobel Lecture 1995

  • Some of you here in this distinguished audience, and perhaps many of my colleagues who are not present, might say that the title I have chosen for this lecture is a strange and artificial construction.

    Trygve Haavelmo - Prize Lecture 1992

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