From Middle English lecture, lectour, letture, letteur, lettur, lectury, from Medieval Latin - or Late Latin lectura, from Latin lectus, past participle of legō ("I read, I recite").

• (British) IPA: /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃɚ/

lecture (plural lectures)

1. A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.

   During class today the professor delivered an interesting lecture.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

2. (by extension) A class that primarily consists of a (weekly or other regularly held) lecture (as in sense 1), usually at college or university.

   We will not have lecture tomorrow.

   Lecture notes are online.

3. A berating or scolding, especially if lengthy, formal or given in a stern or angry manner.

   I really don't want you to give me a lecture about my bad eating habits.

4. (obsolete) The act of reading.

   the lecture of Holy Scripture

• French: conférence, cours magistral
• German: Vorlesung educational lecture at a university, Vortrag talk
• Italian: conferenza, lezione
• Portuguese: conferência, palestra
• Russian: ле́кция
• Spanish: conferencia talk, (colloquial) charla talk, clase educational lecture, lección, aleccionamiento

lecture (lectures, present participle lecturing; simple past and past participle lectured)

1. (ambitransitive) To teach (somebody) by giving a speech on a given topic.

   The professor lectured to two classes this morning.

2. (transitive) To preach, to berate, to scold.

   Emily's father lectured her about the importance of being home before midnight.

• See also Thesaurus:reprehend

• analects
• lectern
• lection
• lesson

• French: donner une conférence, donner un cours magistral
• German: Vorlesung halten (tertiary education)
• Italian: insegnare
• Portuguese: palestrar
• Russian: читать лекция
• Spanish: aleccionar, dictar

• French: gronder, faire la leçon, faire la morale
• Italian: sgridare, richiamare, fare la predica
• Russian: читать нотация
• Spanish: sermonear, amonestar, reprehender