— learnable , adj.
/lerrn/ , v. , learned /lerrnd/ or learnt, learning .
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.