tell
tell Lexical Profile
tell Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To communicate information, facts, or news to someone in spoken or written words.
"Please tell the committee what you discovered during the audit."
To order, instruct, or advise someone to do something.
"The physician told him to rest his injured knee for at least two weeks."
To determine, recognize, or distinguish with certainty by observing evidence or differences.
"Even experts sometimes struggle to tell the genuine painting from the forgery."
To produce a noticeable, significant, or detrimental effect over time (often followed by 'on').
"Months of sleepless nights and intense pressure finally began to tell on her health."
To count, reckon, or enumerate items one by one (now chiefly in set expressions or relating to counting votes).
"The parliamentary clerks were appointed to tell the votes after the debate concluded."
• noun
An unconscious gesture, facial expression, or behavioral habit that inadvertently betrays a person's true thoughts, intentions, or emotions, especially in poker or negotiations.
"The veteran poker player noticed his opponent's subtle tell whenever he was bluffing."
An artificial archaeological mound in the Middle East and western Asia formed by the accumulated remains and debris of ancient human settlements built successively on the same site over centuries.
"Archaeologists excavated several distinct Bronze Age layers within the ancient tell in northern Syria."
Word Nuance & Usage
Unlike 'say', which focuses on the spoken words themselves and does not require a personal object, 'tell' focuses on the transfer of information or instructions and typically takes an indirect personal object (e.g., 'tell someone the truth').
• Rhymes for tell
Word Origin & Etymology
As a verb and behavioral noun, it derives from Old English 'tellan' (to reckon, calculate, or relate), from Proto-Germanic '*taljanan', sharing a root with 'tale' and 'talk'. The archaeological noun sense is borrowed separately from Arabic 'tall' (mound or hillock).