different between shrink vs lesson

English

Etymology

From Middle English shrinken, from Old English s?rincan, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwan?. Cognate with Dutch schrinken (“to shrink”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?????k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

shrink (third-person singular simple present shrinks, present participle shrinking, simple past shrank or shrunk, past participle shrunk or shrunken)

1. (transitive) To cause to become smaller.
2. (intransitive) To become smaller; to contract.
   • And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.

   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns

     Since 1982, it has shrunk by 250 meters.

3. (intransitive) To cower or flinch.

4. (transitive) To draw back; to withdraw.
5. (intransitive, figuratively) To withdraw or retire, as from danger.
   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett (translator), Thucydides

     They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task.

6. (intransitive) To move back or away, especially because of fear or disgust.

Synonyms

• (avoid an unwanted task): funk, shirk
• (withdraw or retire, as from danger): shrink back, retreat

Antonyms

• (to cause to become smaller): expand, grow, enlarge, stretch
• (become smaller): expand, grow, enlarge, stretch

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

shrink (plural shrinks)

1. Shrinkage; contraction; recoil.
2. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

   Synonym: head-shrinker

3. (uncountable, business) Loss of inventory, for example due to shoplifting or not selling items before their expiration date.
   • 2011, Charles Sennewald & John Christman, Retail Crime, Security, and Loss Prevention: An Encyclopedic Reference, p. 227:

     Assuming the retailer's shrink is average or below, and the owner is comfortable with the level of shrink, perhaps nothing more need be done except to maintain vigilance and to monitor the shrink for signs of emerging problems.

Usage notes

• (therapist): The slang sense was originally pejorative, expressing a distrust of practitioners in the field. It is now not as belittling or trivializing.

Translations

References

• shrink at OneLook Dictionary Search
• shrink in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Middle English lessoun, from Old French leçon, from Latin l?cti?, l?cti?nem (“a reading”), from leg? (“I read, I gather”). Doublet of lection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?sn?/
• Homophone: lessen
• Hyphenation: les?son
• Rhymes: -?s?n

Noun

lesson (plural lessons)

1. A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.

2. A learning task assigned to a student; homework.
3. Something learned or to be learned.

4. Something that serves as a warning or encouragement.

5. A section of the Bible or other religious text read as part of a divine service.

6. A severe lecture; reproof; rebuke; warning.

   • She would give her a lesson for walking so late.
7. (music) An exercise; a composition serving an educational purpose; a study.

Synonyms

• lear
• (religious reading): lection

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

lesson (third-person singular simple present lessons, present participle lessoning, simple past and past participle lessoned)

1. To give a lesson to; to teach.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vi:

     her owne daughter Pleasure, to whom shee / Made her companion, and her lessoned / In all the lore of loue, and goodly womanhead.

Translations

See also

• lesson on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Lesson in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Elsons, Slones, no less, nosels, nosles, solens

Middle English

Noun

lesson

1. Alternative form of lessoun