English dictionary
tell
nounPronunciation
/tɛl/
Audio pronunciation
Parts of speech
Definitions
noun
- 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.
- That which is told; a tale or account.
- A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
verb
- (archaic outside of idioms) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
- To narrate.
- To convey by speech; to say.
- To instruct or inform.
- To order; to direct, to say to someone.
- To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
- To reveal.
- To be revealed.
- To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
- To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
- To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
- (authorship) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show
noun
- A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Example sentences
All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.
I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story.
Finally, someone told him the truth. He seems to like to tell lies.
Please tell me how to do it.
Tell him to go away.
Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance? No, there's no way to tell.
Time will tell what became of him.
Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
I saw you steal those sweets! I'm going to tell!
Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.