- present participle of tell.
adjective
-
having a marked effect or impact
a telling blow
-
revealing
a telling smile
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of telling
Explanation
Something that's telling is either significant,or it reveals information. Getting twice as much allowance will have a telling effect on your ability to buy new books. When it comes to economics, a telling indicator of a country's state is how much money its citizens spend each month. And you can see that a movie has had a telling effect on its audience if it leaves them all weeping. If you reveal something without meaning to, that's telling as well: "The look on his face was telling." This adjective dates from the mid-1800s, from the verb tell and its sense of "to reveal or disclose."
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.
"Telling the story of 80 years of the Vespa is, in part, telling the story of how Rome has managed to capture the world’s imagination", particularly through cinema, he said.
From Barron's • Jun. 27, 2026
Telling the truth about one’s life is a spiritual practice.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
Telling people to finish school, take care of their children and obey the law is excellent advice, but he argued that more is needed.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
“You don’t have to confess all your sins,” said Hagerty, author of “Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story.”
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
Telling Lissa had been the right thing to do.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
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.
