Difference between Lecture at someone and Lecture to someone

lecture at someone—talk to a person in a sententious, pompous manner:

• He doesn’t talk to you if you approach him, he lectures at you pedantically.

lecture to someone—give a formal talk (to a group of students, etc.):

• He still finds the time to make frequent visits to Rio Grande University where he lectures to students in the School of Business.

Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with the phrase lecture someone—

1. reproach or scold a person:

• He left the room, coming back only minutes later to lecture me for not cleaning off the counter after doing the dishes.

2. = lecture to someone:

• When Krastins lectures his students on Greco-Roman palaces or baroque churches, he turns to photographs.