- 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.
The couple provided Finnish authorities with evidence, seen by the BBC, including a video of Russian police telling his mother that more than 300 posts had violated Russian law.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
It’s telling that one of the few other CEOs who was also an executive during the dot-com bust has adopted a similar strategy to Dell: Corning’s Wendell Weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
But one foreign attendee voiced concerns, telling AFP in English: "I am really hoping Rwanda is not chewing what it cannot swallow."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
More willing to listen to his body and to communicate what it’s telling him with the ball club that relies on him so much.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Yet Phineas is alert, uncomplaining, and still telling anyone who'll listen about the accident.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
