tell.
Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving
Meaning & usage
Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To determine the number, amount, or value of [something].
All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.
Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.)
I can tell that you're thrilled.
You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.
Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.) To pick up on a difference. (See tell apart for more.)
An expert can tell an original from a forgery.
Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance? No, there's no way to tell.
Social senses of communicating To narrate, to recount.
I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story.
Social senses of communicating To convey by speech; to say.
Finally, someone told him the truth. He seems to like to tell lies.
Social senses of communicating To instruct or inform.
Please tell me how to do it.
Social senses of communicating To order; to direct, to say to someone.
Tell him to go away.
Social senses of communicating To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
Social senses of communicating To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!
Social senses of communicating To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement — contrasted with show.
Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
Abstract senses related to showing or revealing To show, be showing, be revealed.
Abstract senses related to showing or revealing To reveal.
Time will tell what became of him.
Abstract senses related to showing or revealing To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
Abstract senses related to showing or revealing (of a fact) To support a certain position.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talō (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja, Swedish tala (“to speak”). More at tale.
A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.
That which is told; a tale or account.
A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talō (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja, Swedish tala (“to speak”). More at tale.
A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Where this word comes from
From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.