- learn
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—learnable, adj.v.t.1. to acquire knowledge of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience: to learn French; to learn to ski.2. to become informed of or acquainted with; ascertain: to learn the truth.3. to memorize: He learned the poem so he could recite it at the dinner.4. to gain (a habit, mannerism, etc.) by experience, exposure to example, or the like; acquire: She learned patience from her father.5. (of a device or machine, esp. a computer) to perform an analogue of human learning with artificial intelligence.6. Nonstandard. to instruct in; teach.v.i.7. to acquire knowledge or skill: to learn rapidly.8. to become informed (usually fol. by of): to learn of an accident.[bef. 900; ME lernen, OE leornian to learn, read, ponder (c. G lernen); akin to lesan to glean (c. G lesen to read). See LEAR]Syn. 1. LEARN, ASCERTAIN, DETECT, DISCOVER imply adding to one's store of facts. To LEARN is to add to one's knowledge or information: to learn a language. To ASCERTAIN is to verify facts by inquiry or analysis: to ascertain the truth about an event. To DETECT implies becoming aware of something that had been obscure, secret, or concealed: to detect a flaw in reasoning. To DISCOVER is used with objective clauses as a synonym of LEARN in order to suggest that the new information acquired is surprising to the learner: I discovered that she had been married before.
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Universalium. 2010.