tell

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĕl, IPA ^(key): /tɛl/
• SAMPA: /tEl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form tell

Third-person singular tells

Past tense told

Past participle told

Present participle telling

1. (transitive) When you tell something to someone, you speak to the person about some fact or idea.

   He always tells the truth.

   I told all of my friends about Wiktionary.

   I will not tell anyone

2. (transitive) If you tell someone to do something, you are giving them an order.

   My mom told me to clean my room.

3. (intransitive) If you tell, you let a parent, teacher, police officer, etc. know that somebody did something bad.

   I'm sorry I hit you. I'll give you a dollar if you don't tell.

   If you're lying, your eyes will tell on you.

Related words

• write

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