telltale

American  

[tel-teyl] / ˈtɛlˌteɪl /

noun

• telltales
  plural

1. a person who heedlessly or maliciously reveals private or confidential matters; tattler; talebearer.

2. a thing serving to reveal or disclose something.

3. any of various indicating or registering devices, as a time clock.

4. Music. a gauge on an organ for indicating the air pressure.

5. an indicator showing the position of a ship's rudder.

6. a row of strips hung over a track to warn train crew members on freight trains that a low bridge, tunnel, or the like is approaching.

7. Yachting. (on a sailboat) a feather, string, or similar device, often attached to the port and starboard shrouds and to the backstay, to indicate the relative direction of the wind.

8. Squash. a narrow piece of metal across the front wall of a court, parallel to and extending 17 inches (43.2 centimeters) above the base: a ball striking this is an out.

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adjective

1. that reveals or betrays what is not intended to be known.

   a telltale blush.

2. giving notice or warning of something, as a mechanical device.

telltale British  

/ ˈtɛlˌteɪl /

noun

1. a person who tells tales about others

2. 1. an outward indication of something concealed

   2. ( as modifier )

      a telltale paw mark

3. any of various indicators or recording devices used to monitor a process, machine, etc

4. nautical

   1. another word for dogvane

   2. one of a pair of light vanes mounted on the main shrouds of a sailing boat to indicate the apparent direction of the wind

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• telltalely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• telltales
  plural

Etymology

Origin of telltale

First recorded in 1540–50; tell ¹ + tale

Explanation

Something that's telltale accidentally relays important information. A wise parent can tell who ate the last of the birthday cake by the telltale chocolate smudges on the culprit's face. The telltale dark circles under your teacher's eyes betray how little sleep he got last night, and a telltale bulge in a shopper's pocket is sometimes enough for a store owner to suspect she's a shoplifter. If it's telltale, its very presence reveals something. A famous occurrence of telltale, although it's spelled with a hyphen, is Edgar Allen Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart," about a murderer who imagines he's betrayed by the telltale beating of his victim's heart.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

telltale telltales

Some telltale signs have grown all too familiar even to the naked eye, said Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s editor in chief and vice president of content.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

"We were trying to understand one we already knew existed. Then, this telltale signal appeared in the data where we didn't expect it."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Tom and Evan greet a new day by looking out at the bay, and the mayor tosses that telltale brooch into the water.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026

On Thomas Street you can see the impact of two nights of trouble - boarded up windows and the telltale sign of melted plastic and tarmac on street corners.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

In Europe, Asia, and Africa smallpox became a constant, terrible presence, infecting almost every child, killing many and leaving others with the disfiguring pockmarks that are its telltale sign.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

They found that when a phishing pop-up had clear malevolent telltales, like misspellings, the phone and PC users tended to avoid it at similar rates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

“Loss of communication at these screens could interrupt updating of the speedometer, gear selection indicators, telltales and other in-vehicle notifications.”

From The Verge ● May 25, 2022

And because this particular case had so many of those telltales, we went ahead and filed this brief.

From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2019

Such telltales of a feminist reading are not merely opportune; they are accurate to Shaw’s intent.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2018

And then slow tears would trickle down her cheeks, very slow, one by one, till they would fall as telltales on her mother's hand.

From The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope