tell

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.
• I can tell that you're thrilled.
• You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.

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.

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.
• She couldn't tell the words on the chalkboard without her glasses.

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.
• Finally, someone told him the truth.  He seems to like to tell lies.
• Please tell me how to do it.

To narrate, to recount.

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

To convey by speech; to say.

• Finally, someone told him the truth.  He seems to like to tell lies.

To instruct or inform.

• Please tell me how to do it.

To order; to direct, to say to someone.

• Tell him to go away.

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

To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.

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

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. To reveal.

• Time will tell what became of him.
• Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.

To show, be showing, be revealed.

To reveal.

• Time will tell what became of him.

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.

(of a fact) To support a certain position.

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.