valuable lesson — useful thing learned
collocationB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
something important or helpful that you learn from an experience, often making you wiser or more careful in the future.
Say it like a native
Textbook The episode imparted an important instructive lesson.
Native It taught me a valuable lesson.
'Valuable lesson' is the set phrase; the formal version is stiff.
Pattern: a valuable lesson (about/in something); learn/teach a valuable lesson
In use
- Losing my first job taught me a valuable lesson about being responsible.daily life
- One valuable lesson I learned at university was the importance of managing my time well.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I learned a valuable lesson about to trust people.
✓ I learned a valuable lesson about trusting people.
'About + -ing', not 'about to'.
Common collocations
valuable lesson + learn— learn a valuable lesson, teach someone, a hard lesson, in life
Don't confuse it
Don't confuse 'valuable lesson' (important knowledge or experience) with 'expensive lesson' (cost a lot of money).