tell

Plural: tells

Noun

a Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer; according to legend an Austrian governor compelled him to shoot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow (which he did successfully without mishap)
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.
A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.

Verb

Verb Forms: told, telling, tells

To communicate information or narrate a story.
express in words
- "tell me what is bothering you"
let something be known
- "Tell them that you will be late"
narrate or give a detailed account of
- "Tell what happened"
give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority
discern or comprehend
- "He could tell that she was unhappy"
inform positively and with certainty and confidence
- "I tell you that man is a crook!"
give evidence
- "he was telling on all his former colleague"
mark as different
To count, reckon, or enumerate.
To narrate, to recount.
To convey by speech; to say.
To instruct or inform.
To order; to direct, to say to someone.
To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
To reveal.
To be revealed.
To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement — contrasted with show.

Examples

All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.
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.
Finally, someone told him the truth. He seems to like to tell lies.
His strategy was hard to tell, as his plays seemed random yet effective.
I can tell you're upset.
I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!
I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story.
Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
Please tell me how to do it.
Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
Tell him to go away.
Time will tell what became of him.

Origin / Etymology

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, *talǭ (“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.

Synonyms

assure, differentiate, distinguish, enjoin, evidence, narrate, order, recite, recount, say, secern, secernate, separate, severalise, severalize, state, tell apart, William Tell, advise, apprise, count, disclose, grass up, make known, number, relate, snitch, tattle, tell on

Antonyms

ask

Scrabble Score: 4

tell: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
tell: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tell: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

tell: valid Words With Friends Word