tell

/tɛl/

verb 14
noun 5
forms 12
phrases 20

verb14

•
to speak to someone so that they know something
- Finally, someone told him the truth.
- He seems to like to tell lies.
•
To narrate, to recount.
- I want to tell a story
- I want to tell you a story.
•
To instruct or inform.
- Please tell me how to do it.
•
To order; to direct, to say to someone.
- Tell him to go away.
•
To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.)
- I can tell that you're thrilled.
- You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.
•
To pick up on a difference. (See tell apart for more.)
- An expert can tell an original from a forgery.
- Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance?
•
To show, be showing, be revealed.
- Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling. Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities. — 1990
•
To reveal.
- Time will tell what became of him.
•
To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
- Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
•
To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
- I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!
•
To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement — contrasted with show.
- Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
•
To determine the number, amount, or value of [something].
- All told, there were over a dozen.
- Can you tell time on a clock?
•
(of a fact) To support a certain position.
- Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may hold[…]keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favour. — 1859
To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.

noun5

A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
•
(informal) A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.
- Those whose business it is to verify luxury bags insist, at least publicly, that there’s always a “tell” to a superfake. — 2023
•
A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
- Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah. — 2001
(Internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
•
(no longer used) That which is told; a tale or account.
- April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann I am at the end of my tell.

forms

telled · telt · tol' · told · tolled · toldest · ytold · telling · telleth · tells · tellest · tellen

Phrases with tell