The verb lessen means to decrease or reduce. The noun lesson means an instructive example, a piece of practical wisdom, or a unit of instruction.
Examples:
- "Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts." (Clare Boothe Luce)
- "The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust." (Henry L. Stimson)
Observation:
"And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next, and so on."
"What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.
"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day."
(Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865)
Practice:
(a) To lengthen your life, _____ your meals.(b) "Life is a long _____ in humility." (James M. Barrie)
