name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
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"Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah."
"Those whose business it is to verify luxury bags insist, at least publicly, that there’s always a “tell” to a superfake."
"April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann I am at the end of my tell."
"All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth."
"I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story."
"Finally, someone told him the truth. He seems to like to tell lies."
"Please tell me how to do it."
"Tell him to go away."
"Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance? No, there's no way to tell."
"Time will tell what became of him."
"Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling. Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities."
"Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell."
"I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!"
"Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing."
"I can't tell her now. It's not that simple anymore."
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.
Common synonyms include: acknowledge, acquaint, admit, advertise, advertise of, advise.
I can't tell her now. It's not that simple anymore.
Pronounced /[tʰɔː]/.
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. More at tale.
From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).
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