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Learn vs Require - What's the difference?

learn | require |

As verbs the difference between learn and require

is that learn is to acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something or learn can be while require is (label) to ask (someone) for something; to request.

learn

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) lernen, from (etyl) . Compare (etyl) lernen.

Verb

  • To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
  • To attend a course or other educational activity.
  • * 1719 ,
  • For, as he took delight to introduce me, I took delight to learn.
  • To gain knowledge from a bad experience.
  • learn from one's mistakes
  • To be studying.
  • To come to know; to become informed of; to find out.
  • He just learned that he will be sacked.
    Usage notes
    * See other, dated and regional, sense of below.
    Synonyms
    * (l)
    Antonyms
    * (l) * (l)
    Derived terms
    * (l) * (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Compare Dutch leren, German (m).

    Verb

  • *:
  • *:And whan she had serched hym / she fond in the bottome of his wound that therin was poyson / And soo she heled hym/ and therfore Tramtrist cast grete loue to la beale Isoud / for she was at that tyme the fairest mayde and lady of the worlde / And there Tramtryst lerned her to harpe / and she beganne to haue grete fantasye vnto hym
  • *1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
  • *:Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.
  • *circa 1611 , (William Shakespeare), (Cymbeline), :
  • *:Have I not been / Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learn’d me how / To make perfumes?
  • *1993 , The Simpsons , (18 Feb. 1993) Lisa's thoughts:
  • *:That'll learn him to bust my tomater.
  • Usage notes
    Now often considered non-standard.
    Derived terms
    * (l)

    References

    * * * Family Word Finder Readers Digest Association Inc. NY 1975

    require

    English

    Verb

    (requir)
  • (label) To ask (someone) for something; to request.
  • *, Bk.XI:
  • *:I requyre yow lete vs be sworne to gyders that neuer none of vs shalle after this day haue adoo with other, and there with alle syre Tristram and sire Lamorak sware that neuer none of hem shold fyghte ageynst other nor for wele, nor for woo.
  • *1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Mark V:
  • *:I requyre the in the name of god, that thou torment me nott.
  • To demand, to insist upon (having); to call for authoritatively.
  • *1998 , Joan Wolf, The Gamble , Warner Books:
  • *:"I am Miss Newbury," I announced, "and I require to be shown to my room immediately, if you please."
  • *2009 , Vikram Dodd, The Guardian , 29 December:
  • *:‘Regrettably, I have concluded, after considering the matter over Christmas, that I can no longer maintain the high standard of service I require of myself, meet the demands of office and cope with the pressures of public life, without my health deteriorating further.’
  • Naturally to demand (something) as indispensable; to need, to call for as necessary.
  • *1972 , "Aid for Aching Heads", Time , 5 June:
  • *:Chronic pain is occasionally a sign of a very serious problem, like brain tumors, and can require surgery.
  • *2009 , Julian Borger, The Guardian , 7 February:
  • *:A weapon small enough to put on a missile would require uranium enriched to more than 90% U-235.
  • To demand of (someone) to do something.
  • *1970 , "Compulsory Midi", Time , 29 June:
  • *:After Aug 3 all salesgirls will be required to wear only one style of skirt while on duty: the midi.
  • *2007 , Allegra Stratton, "Smith to ban non-EU unskilled immigrants from working in UK", The Guardian , 5 December:
  • *:The government would like to require non-British fiances who wish to marry a British citizen to sit an English test.