tell
verb (used with object)
to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.).
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tell
1 American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
verb (used with object)
-
tells,
present (3rd person singular)
-
told,
past participle, past
-
telling
present participle
-
to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.).
to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.
-
to make known by speech or writing (a fact, news, information, etc.); communicate.
- Synonyms:
- impart
-
to announce or proclaim.
-
to utter (the truth, a lie, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- speak
-
to express in words (thoughts, feelings, etc.).
-
to reveal or divulge (something secret or private).
-
to say plainly or positively.
I cannot tell just what was done.
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to discern or recognize (a distant person or thing) so as to be able to identify or describe.
Can you tell who that is over there?
-
to distinguish; discriminate; ascertain.
You could hardly tell the difference between them.
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to inform (a person) of something.
He told me his name.
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to assure emphatically.
I won't, I tell you!
-
to bid, order, or command.
Tell him to stop.
-
to mention one after another, as in enumerating; count or set one by one or in exact amount.
to tell the cattle in a herd;
All told there were 17 if we are correct.
verb (used without object)
-
tells,
present (3rd person singular)
-
told,
past participle, past
-
telling
present participle
-
to give an account or report.
Tell me about your trip.
-
to give evidence or be an indication.
The ruined temples told of an ancient culture, long since passed from existence.
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to disclose something secret or private; inform; tattle.
She knows who did it, but she won't tell.
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to say positively; determine; predict.
Who can tell?
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to have force or effect; operate effectively.
a contest in which every stroke tells.
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to produce a marked or severe effect.
The strain was telling on his health.
-
British Dialect. to talk or chat.
verb phrase
-
tell on to tattle on (someone).
-
tell off
-
to separate from the whole and assign to a particular duty.
-
Informal. to rebuke severely; scold.
It was about time that someone told him off.
-
idioms
tell
2
American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
noun
Tell
3
American
[tel]
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
1
British
/ tɛl /
verb
-
(when tr, may take a clause as object) to let know or notify
he told me that he would go
-
(tr) to order or instruct (someone to do something)
I told her to send the letter airmail
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to give an account or narration (of something)
she told me her troubles
-
(tr) to communicate by words; utter
to tell the truth
-
(tr) to make known; disclose
to tell fortunes
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to serve as an indication
her blush told of her embarrassment
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(tr; used with can, etc; may take a clause as object) to comprehend, discover, or discern
I can tell what is wrong
-
(tr; used with can, etc) to distinguish or discriminate
he couldn't tell chalk from cheese
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(intr) to have or produce an impact, effect, or strain
every step told on his bruised feet
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informal to reveal secrets or gossip (about)
don't tell!
she told on him
-
(tr) to assure
I tell you, I've had enough!
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(tr) to count (votes)
-
dialect (intr) to talk or chatter
-
informal to tell the truth no matter how unpleasant it is
-
to read the time from a clock
-
slang I know that very well
Tell
2
British
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
3
British
/ tɛl /
noun
tell
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tellsimple
-
tellssimple
-
have toldperfect
-
has toldperfect
-
am tellingprogressive
-
are tellingprogressive
-
is tellingprogressive
-
have been tellingperfect progressive
-
has been tellingperfect progressive
Past
-
toldsimple
-
had toldperfect
-
was tellingprogressive
-
were tellingprogressive
-
had been tellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tell1
First recorded before 900; Middle English tellen, tel(le) “to speak, talk, say, mention,” Old English tellan “to tell, relate, count”; cognate with Dutch tellen “to reckon, count,” Old Norse telja “to count, number, say,” Old High German zellēn, German zählen “to count, number”; akin to tale
Origin of tell2
First recorded in 1860–65; from Arabic tall “hillock”
Explanation
To tell is to describe or announce something, either by speaking or writing. If you're going to be late to a movie, you should tell your friends so they can save you a seat. You might tell someone to be quiet in the library, or tell a bedtime story to your siblings. You can also tell your friend a secret or tell her secret to someone else. Informally, to tell on someone is to inform an authority about something that person did that she wasn't supposed to do. And there's also a way to use tell to mean "determine with certainty," like when you can tell it's going to rain because the sky is so dark.
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.
See Examples For:
“But I really have no clue who Taylor and Travis got it from. And in any event, nobody’s going to tell you, because there must be an NDA on that.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Messages sent by inmates that evening – seen by the BBC – tell of alarms going off and the sound of an explosion.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
I want to keep telling stories only I can tell, in whatever format I can.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
I can’t tell you to disinherit your son and daughter-in-law, and I can’t tell you not to do so.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
I don’t need to tell Grandma what can happen when someone in the family tries to tamper with their gift without a guide.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Tell the landlord the same thing, and ask if he would contact the previous tenant.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
In one sense, he was selling himself short: “Revolver” featured three Harrison compositions, a glut of new material that included “Taxman,” “Love You To” and “I Want to Tell You.”
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Tell me who you’re putting on these groups, he said, and I’ll tell you what they’ll say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Tell you on the way to school tomorrow.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“You’re not like other girls,” Tina tells Gen when her daughter asks why she can’t take a half-hour break from training to be with her boyfriend.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
“It’s a fine line between being melodramatic and being truthful” in birth and death scenes, the Southern California native tells The Envelope.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
"Kyle has to know that if you lose the ball it's a goal," Guardiola tells his dressing room afterwards, which draws an angry reaction from the defender, who says: "Every meeting, it's my name".
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
"That tells us we can potentially tune electrical behavior by carefully controlling curvature at the nanoscale."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
Now Phineas takes a neighborly seat on the porch and tells his landlord what happened to him.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
"We do have peaks and troughs in performance. Most nations do if you look at it," England Hockey chief executive Rich Beer told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
It “broke the idea that the British couldn’t be beaten,” we are told, and “helped the colonists believe in the rebellion again.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Carney spoke by phone with Trump on Monday afternoon about the trade negotiations, a spokesperson for the Canadian leader told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Real Madrid looked best placed to sign Rodri as he entered the final 12 months of his City contract, but sources told BBC Sport Barcelona had Rodri's approval to open negotiations with City.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
So much so that she didn’t even need to be told much else, but he told her anyway.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"We had a phone call the other day telling us the scheme had run out of money, and maybe there'd be more money coming in 12 months' time... we're disappointed."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The machine patted me on the head by noting that I had avoided words like profound and tapestry and only once indulged in telling all of you “Here’s the thing.”
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
The most telling details of the painting are revealed through technical analysis, using a number of scans and a conservator’s favorite tool — the headband magnifiers known as optivisors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
That day, Situational sent a second-quarter update to clients telling them it had suffered losses in July but that it was a good time to invest new money in the fund.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Heat rises in me again, that she was aware of everything I’m telling her, but chose to say nothing.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
