tell on
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s a joke with its own Wikipedia page, one economists tell on economists, about being stuck on a deserted island with a can of food and no way open it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
"I think this might be a long-term system for Slot, but time will tell on that," former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2025
Time will have to tell on those questions, with neither the Dodgers nor Ohtani ready to commit to any answers until they see how he continues to respond to his return to two-way duties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025
Most people can’t help but tell on themselves.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2025
“Pa, they’re our friends. They wouldn’t tell on us and get us in trouble!”
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
