lesson

teach someone a lesson

to get even with someone for bad behavior. John tripped me, so I punched him. That ought to teach him a lesson. That taught me a lesson. I won't do it again.

See also: teach

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learn your lesson

to learn something useful about life from an unpleasant experience I'm never going to mix my drinks again - I've learnt my lesson.

See know by heart

See also: learn

teach somebody a lesson

to punish someone so that they will not behave badly again The next time she's late, go without her. That should teach her a lesson.

See also: teach

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learn a/your lesson

to understand something because of an unpleasant experience We learned a lesson from last year's failure to reform health care. You hope that prisoners will say, “I don't want to end up back in jail again – I've learned my lesson.”

See also: learn

teach (somebody) a lesson also teach a lesson to somebody

to show what should not be done You would think that losing her job because she took too much time off would have taught her a lesson, but it's happened again! He had this idea that the government is evil and must be taught a lesson, so he blew up a government office.

See also: teach