Definition of "tell" in English

verb

1. (transitive, archaic outside of idioms) To count, reckon, or enumerate.

   • All told, there were over a dozen.  Can you tell time on a clock?  He had untold wealth.

2. (transitive, ditransitive) To narrate, to recount.

   • I want to tell a story;  I want to tell you a story.

3. (transitive, ditransitive) To convey by speech; to say.

   • Finally, someone told him the truth.  He seems to like to tell lies.
   • Tell her you’re here.

4. (transitive) To instruct or inform.

   • Please tell me how to do it.

5. (transitive) To order; to direct, to say to someone.

   • Tell him to go away.

6. (transitive or intransitive) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.

   • Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance?  No, there's no way to tell.
   • I can tell you're upset.
   • An expert can tell an original from a forgery.
   • Whether she loves me or loves me not / Sometimes it's hard to tell

7. (transitive) To reveal.

   • Time will tell what became of him.

8. (intransitive) To be revealed.

   • 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.

9. (intransitive) 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.

10. (transitive) To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.

11. (intransitive, childish) To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.

    • I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!

12. (authorship, intransitive) 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.

noun

1. 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.

2. (informal) A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.