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
"That is our biggest distributor so it is starting to tell on our counter as it becomes increasingly empty."
From BBC • May 17, 2025
The thing is, most people can’t help but tell on themselves.
From Salon • Feb. 12, 2025
But the story of Taylor Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce is proof positive that sports—and the stories they tell on any given Sunday—do not exist in a vacuum.
From Slate • Jan. 30, 2024
“What you’ll do this time is tell on yourself,” Marly said to Joe in a whisper, and giggled.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
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.
