Verb 1. instruct - impart skills or knowledge to; "I taught them French"; "He instructed me in building a boat" teach, learn

train, educate, prepare, develop - create by training and teaching; "The old master is training world-class violinists"; "we develop the leaders for the future"

indoctrinate - teach doctrines to; teach uncritically; "The Moonies indoctrinate their disciples"

drill - teach by repetition

catechise, catechize - give religious instructions to

reinforce, reward - strengthen and support with rewards; "Let's reinforce good behavior"

spoonfeed - teach without challenging the students; "This professor spoonfeeds his students"

induct - introduce or initiate; "The young geisha was inducted into the ways of her profession"

mentor - serve as a teacher or trusted counselor; "The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school"; "She is a fine lecturer but she doesn't like mentoring"

tutor - be a tutor to someone; give individual instruction; "She tutored me in Spanish"

unteach - cause to disbelieve; teach someone the contrary of what he or she had learned earlier

unteach - cause to unlearn; "teach somebody to unlearn old habits or methods"

ground - instruct someone in the fundamentals of a subject

lecture, talk - deliver a lecture or talk; "She will talk at Rutgers next week"; "Did you ever lecture at Harvard?"

inform - impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to; "I informed him of his rights"

coach, train - teach and supervise (someone); act as a trainer or coach (to), as in sports; "He is training our Olympic team"; "She is coaching the crew"

edify, enlighten - make understand; "Can you enlighten me--I don't understand this proposal"

condition - establish a conditioned response

2. instruct - give instructions or directions for some task; "She instructed the students to work on their pronunciation" order, enjoin, tell, say - give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority; "I said to him to go home"; "She ordered him to do the shopping"; "The mother told the child to get dressed"

charge - instruct or command with authority; "The teacher charged the children to memorize the poem"

charge - instruct (a jury) about the law, its application, and the weighing of evidence

3. instruct - make aware of; "Have the students been apprised of the tuition hike?" apprise, apprize

direct - give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction; "I directed them towards the town hall"