a person or thing that tells, relates, or communicates; narrator.
Grandpa was a great teller of tall, tall tales.
a person employed in a bank to receive or pay out money over the counter.
a person who tells, counts, or enumerates, as one appointed to count votes in a legislative body.
another name for cashier 1
a person appointed to count votes in a legislative body, assembly, etc
a person who tells; narrator
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at tell 1, -er 1
A teller is either someone who tells some sort of story or a person who works in a bank. A bank clerk who loves to talk about her adventures? She's both kinds of teller. You might be a teller of tales, known for spinning stories, or a teller of lies, famous for your fibs. If you're a teller at a bank, you cash customers' checks and make their deposits. There aren't as many bank tellers as there once were, since this job is increasingly done by ATMs, or automatic teller machines. Teller comes from an obscure sense of the verb tell, "count."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Sometimes I’ll refer to myself as the Chief Truth Teller, just so I can be really candid.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Although farmers in Riverside County should be able to turn to other companies to rent their honeybees for pollination needs, Teller anticipates downstream effects for bee removal customers.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Sabrina, your character in “The Paper” wants to be the managing editor of the Toledo Truth Teller, but she’s really all about the clickbait.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
Oscar nominee Colman Domingo plays the singer's father Joe Jackson in the film, which also stars Nia Long as mother Katherine Jackson, and Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller as entertainment lawyer John Branca.
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
In Manhattan Pittman worked variously as a buyer at Bonwit Teller, a merchandising editor at Mademoiselle, and a beauty editor at a magazine called Bride’s, and in 1979 married Bob Pittman.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
