educate

/ˌɛdʒəˈkeɪt/

/ˈɛdʒukeɪt/

Other forms: educated; educating; educates

To educate is to teach, train, or inform someone. Teachers educate students.

If the word educate makes you think of children, you're not far off. It comes from the Latin word educare meaning to "bring up, rear.” In the 1500s, Shakespeare borrowed it to mean "schooling." These days, any time you're in a classroom listening to a lecture, reading a book, or speaking with a teacher, you're being educated. Teachers educate students all the way from preschool to graduate school. Almost any experience can educate if you learn from it.

Definitions of educate

1. verb

   give an education to
   “We must educate our youngsters better”

   types:

   socialise, socialize

   train for a social environment

   groom, prepare, train

   educate for a future role or function

   co-educate, coeducate

   educate persons of both sexes together

   school

   educate in or as if in a school

   dispose, qualify

   make fit or prepared

   home-school

   educate (one's children) at home instead of sending (them) to a school

   type of:

   ameliorate, amend, better, improve, meliorate

   make better
2. verb

   create by training and teaching
   synonyms: develop, prepare, train

   build up, develop

   change the use of and make available or usable

   prepare, train

   undergo training or instruction in preparation for a particular role, function, or profession

   groom, prepare, train

   educate for a future role or function

   types:

   retrain

   teach new skills

   drill

   train in the military, e.g., in the use of weapons

   house-train, housebreak

   train (a pet) to live cleanly in a house

   toilet-train

   train (a small child) to use the toilet

   type of:

   instruct, learn, teach

   impart skills or knowledge to
3. verb

   teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment
   synonyms: civilise, civilize, cultivate, school, train

   types:

   sophisticate

   make less natural or innocent

   type of:

   down, fine-tune, polish, refine

   improve or perfect by pruning or polishing