tell
verb (used with object)
to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.).
Jump To:
tell
1 American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
verb (used with object)
-
tells,
present (3rd person singular)
-
told,
past participle, past
-
telling
present participle
-
to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.).
to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.
-
to make known by speech or writing (a fact, news, information, etc.); communicate.
- Synonyms:
- impart
-
to announce or proclaim.
-
to utter (the truth, a lie, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- speak
-
to express in words (thoughts, feelings, etc.).
-
to reveal or divulge (something secret or private).
-
to say plainly or positively.
I cannot tell just what was done.
-
to discern or recognize (a distant person or thing) so as to be able to identify or describe.
Can you tell who that is over there?
-
to distinguish; discriminate; ascertain.
You could hardly tell the difference between them.
-
to inform (a person) of something.
He told me his name.
-
to assure emphatically.
I won't, I tell you!
-
to bid, order, or command.
Tell him to stop.
-
to mention one after another, as in enumerating; count or set one by one or in exact amount.
to tell the cattle in a herd;
All told there were 17 if we are correct.
verb (used without object)
-
tells,
present (3rd person singular)
-
told,
past participle, past
-
telling
present participle
-
to give an account or report.
Tell me about your trip.
-
to give evidence or be an indication.
The ruined temples told of an ancient culture, long since passed from existence.
-
to disclose something secret or private; inform; tattle.
She knows who did it, but she won't tell.
-
to say positively; determine; predict.
Who can tell?
-
to have force or effect; operate effectively.
a contest in which every stroke tells.
-
to produce a marked or severe effect.
The strain was telling on his health.
-
British Dialect. to talk or chat.
verb phrase
-
tell on to tattle on (someone).
-
tell off
-
to separate from the whole and assign to a particular duty.
-
Informal. to rebuke severely; scold.
It was about time that someone told him off.
-
idioms
tell
2
American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
noun
Tell
3
American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
1
British
/ tɛl /
verb
-
(when tr, may take a clause as object) to let know or notify
he told me that he would go
-
(tr) to order or instruct (someone to do something)
I told her to send the letter airmail
-
to give an account or narration (of something)
she told me her troubles
-
(tr) to communicate by words; utter
to tell the truth
-
(tr) to make known; disclose
to tell fortunes
-
to serve as an indication
her blush told of her embarrassment
-
(tr; used with can, etc; may take a clause as object) to comprehend, discover, or discern
I can tell what is wrong
-
(tr; used with can, etc) to distinguish or discriminate
he couldn't tell chalk from cheese
-
(intr) to have or produce an impact, effect, or strain
every step told on his bruised feet
-
informal to reveal secrets or gossip (about)
don't tell!
she told on him
-
(tr) to assure
I tell you, I've had enough!
-
(tr) to count (votes)
-
dialect (intr) to talk or chatter
-
informal to tell the truth no matter how unpleasant it is
-
to read the time from a clock
-
slang I know that very well
Tell
2
British
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
3
British
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tellsimple
-
tellssimple
-
have toldperfect
-
has toldperfect
-
am tellingprogressive
-
are tellingprogressive
-
is tellingprogressive
-
have been tellingperfect progressive
-
has been tellingperfect progressive
Past
-
toldsimple
-
had toldperfect
-
was tellingprogressive
-
were tellingprogressive
-
had been tellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tell1
First recorded before 900; Middle English tellen, tel(le) “to speak, talk, say, mention,” Old English tellan “to tell, relate, count”; cognate with Dutch tellen “to reckon, count,” Old Norse telja “to count, number, say,” Old High German zellēn, German zählen “to count, number”; akin to tale
Origin of tell2
First recorded in 1860–65; from Arabic tall “hillock”
Explanation
To tell is to describe or announce something, either by speaking or writing. If you're going to be late to a movie, you should tell your friends so they can save you a seat. You might tell someone to be quiet in the library, or tell a bedtime story to your siblings. You can also tell your friend a secret or tell her secret to someone else. Informally, to tell on someone is to inform an authority about something that person did that she wasn't supposed to do. And there's also a way to use tell to mean "determine with certainty," like when you can tell it's going to rain because the sky is so dark.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We need both candidates to be bolder, more creative, more convincing, and to tell us things we haven’t heard before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
I couldn’t tell if it was already evening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“It should tell the whole story of a nation, including the good and the bad, so Museum visitors can understand the development that led our nation to where it is today.”
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
In Steve's case, after the nanopore machine was running for 20 minutes, the neuropathology team called the theatre to tell them that the tumour was likely to be a glioblastoma.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Ruby leans over and says, “Shh, don’t cry, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything until you’re ready. There’s a math assignment that I’m trying to avoid, so take your time,” she teases.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Tell that to shippers who still refuse to send their cargo into the Strait of Hormuz.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Tell me about your mother, who was a civil rights activist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
And reacting online to the clip of Owen, another parent wrote: "Parents and potential parents do not listen to this man. Tell your kids you love them everyday, even when it annoys them."
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Another option: Tell the server that you’re covering drinks but you’ll each pay for your own food.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Why didn’t your family come with you to Cuba? Tell me, Mamá. Did you come all by yourself?”
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
If Mr. Bonds rarely shared his insights with his teammates, Mr. Baker tells the author, it’s because he was afraid a player would move on to another team and use the information.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
"I saw a neurosurgeon who told me I had two tumours, initially I thought it was one, but it was two," Dan tells BBC Newsbeat.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
“Black learning spaces have always been seen as dangerous,” she tells her students, “not just because of what students do, but because of who you might become.”
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
For most of my life, I have been the daughter who tells everyone that my mother’s money is her own business.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
He tells me I can ask away whenever I’m ready.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Wide receiver Christian Watson told reporters “it’s tough” to hear the home fans react in such a manner, but he gets it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Earlier this year, Everton were told they must pay Burnley £35m over the impact of a breach of the Premier League's financial rules.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
That’s the largest August number for that demographic since 2014 — and it’s often a month when new grads are starting their first job, one economist previously told MarketWatch, also pointing to AI’s impact.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
“If VisiCalc had been written for some other computer,” Jobs told an interviewer in 1990, “you’d be interviewing somebody else right now.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Dad waits until Aunt J is out of earshot and then asks, “So… now that you two have met Candace, what do you think of her? She told me she really liked you two.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
September 2026: Reports emerge that a verdict has been reached, with sources telling the BBC that City have been found guilty of breaking the majority of the charges.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
In July, he said Tesla would focus on developing the driverless software first for the Cybercab robotaxi and its other vehicles, telling investors that he didn’t want the Semi to “be a distraction.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
He lowers his revenue forecasts, telling clients in a note that recent slower-than-expected subscription growth is unsurprising given competition and regulators’ attention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
How did you land on Andy Warhol as a celebrity figure and metaphor to use in telling this story about Kai and Juniper?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Then all at once he was telling me about his wife and children in Bremen, about their garden, their dogs, their summer hiking vacations.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
