tell
/tɛl/ verb A1- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Plural tell · He/she/it tells · Past told · Past participle told · -ing form telling
Verb forms
- Base form
- tell
- He/she/it
- tells
- Past
- told
- Past participle
- told
- -ing form
- telling
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, “Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?” when suddenly, thump!
Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please?
Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do;
And tell the other girls and boys
Other matches
Learn tell in real texts
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