telling

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tell·ing

(tĕl′ĭng)

adj.

1. Having force and producing a striking effect.

2. Revealing previously unknown information.

tell′ing·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

telling

(ˈtɛlɪŋ)

adj

1. having a marked effect or impact: a telling blow.

2. revealing: a telling smile.

ˈtellingly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tell•ing

(ˈtɛl ɪŋ)

adj.

1. having force or effect; effective; striking: a telling blow.

2. indicative of much otherwise unnoticed; revealing: a telling analysis.

[1850–55]

tell′ing•ly, adv.

telling

See: track telling.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	telling - an act of narration; "he was the hero according to his own relation"; "his endless recounting of the incident eventually became unbearable" recounting, relation recital, yarn, narration - the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events; "his narration was hesitant"
	2.	telling - informing by words apprisal, notification making known, informing - a speech act that conveys information notice - advance notification (usually written) of the intention to withdraw from an arrangement of contract; "we received a notice to vacate the premises"; "he gave notice two months before he moved" warning - notification of something, usually in advance; "they gave little warning of their arrival"; "she had only had four days' warning before leaving Berlin"
	3.	telling - disclosing information or giving evidence about another tattle, singing disclosure, revealing, revelation - the speech act of making something evident
Adj.	1.	telling - disclosing unintentionally; "a telling smile"; "a telltale panel of lights"; "a telltale patch of oil on the water marked where the boat went down" revealing, telltale informatory, informative - providing or conveying information
	2.	telling - powerfully persuasive; "a cogent argument"; "a telling presentation"; "a weighty argument" cogent, weighty persuasive - intended or having the power to induce action or belief; "persuasive eloquence"; "a most persuasive speaker"; "a persuasive argument"
	3.	telling - producing a strong effect; "gave an impressive performance as Othello"; "a telling gesture" impressive effective, effectual, efficacious - producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect; "an air-cooled motor was more effective than a witch's broomstick for rapid long-distance transportation"-LewisMumford; "effective teaching methods"; "effective steps toward peace"; "made an effective entrance"; "his complaint proved to be effectual in bringing action"; "an efficacious law"

telling

adjective effective, significant, considerable, marked, striking, powerful, solid, impressive, influential, decisive, potent, forceful, weighty, forcible, trenchant, effectual How a man shaves is a telling clue to his age.
minor, slight, trivial, insignificant, lightweight, negligible, unimportant, ineffectual, inconsequential, indecisive, easily ignored

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

telling

adjective

Serving to convince:

cogent, convincing, persuasive, satisfactory.

Translations

مُؤَثِّر، مُفْحِم

účinnývýmluvný

effektiv

áhrifaríkur

telling

[ˈtelɪŋ]

A. ADJ (= effective) [blow] → certero; [argument] → contundente, eficaz; (= significant) [figures, remark] → revelador

B. N → narración f
the story did not lose in the telling → la historia no perdió nada al ser narrada

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

telling

[ˈtɛlɪŋ]

adj

(= revealing) [remark, detail] → révélateur/trice

(= effective) [argument, criticism] → convaincant(e)
with telling effect, to telling effect (= very effectively) → très efficacement

n [story] → narration ftelling-off telling off [ˌtɛlɪŋˈɒf] n → savon m
to get a telling-off → se faire passer un savon; [child] → se faire grondertell-tale telltale [ˈtɛlteɪl]

n → rapporteur/euse m/f

adj [sign] → éloquent(e), révélateur/trice

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

telling

adj (= effective) → wirkungsvoll; argument also → schlagend; blow (lit, fig) → empfindlich; (= revealing) → aufschlussreich; blush → verräterisch

(= narration) → Erzählen nt; it loses a lot in the telling → das kann man gar nicht so schön erzählen

there is no telling what he may do → man kann nicht sagen or wissen, was er tut; there’s no telling → das lässt sich nicht sagen; there’s no telling how long the talks could last → es lässt sich nicht absehen, wie lange die Gespräche dauern werden; there’s never any telling with him → bei ihm lässt sich das nie sagen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

telling

[ˈtɛlɪŋ] adj (effective, blow) → efficace; (significant, figures, remark, detail) → rivelatore/trice

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

tell

(tel) – past tense, past participle told (tould) verb

1. to inform or give information to (a person) about (something). He told the whole story to John; He told John about it.

2. to order or command; to suggest or warn. I told him to go away.

3. to say or express in words. to tell lies / the truth / a story.

4. to distinguish; to see (a difference); to know or decide. Can you tell the difference between them?; I can't tell one from the other; You can tell if the meat is cooked by/from the colour.

5. to give away a secret. You mustn't tell or we'll get into trouble.

6. to be effective; to be seen to give (good) results. Good teaching will always tell.

ˈteller noun

1. a person who receives or pays out money over the counter at a bank.

2. a person who tells (stories). a story-teller.

ˈtelling adjective

having a great effect. a telling argument.

ˈtellingly adverb

ˈtelltale adjective

giving information (often which a person would not wish to be known). the telltale signs of guilt.

I told you so

I told or warned you that this would happen, had happened etc, and I was right. `I told you so, but you wouldn't believe me.

tell off to scold: The teacher used to tell me off for not doing my homework ( ˌtelling-ˈoff: He gave me a good telling-off) noun

tell on

1. to have a bad effect on. Smoking began to tell on his health.

2. to give information about (a person, usually if they are doing something wrong). I'm late for work – don't tell on me!

tell tales

to give away secret or private information about the (usually wrong) actions of others. You must never tell tales.

tell the time

to (be able to) know what time it is by looking at a clock etc or by any other means. He can tell the time from the position of the sun; Could you tell me the time, please?

there's no telling

it is impossible to know. There's no telling what he'll do!

you never can tell

it is possible. It might rain – you never can tell.

References in classic literature ?

Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left off, so I can go on telling you about the day.

Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never told any, and yet.

View in context

He was telling her a long story (of robbers outside the walls being taken up by a stone statue of a Saint), to entertain her--as he said to me when I came out, 'because he had a daughter of his own, though she was not so pretty.'

You know the truth of this, as you know everything, far far better than I; but I cannot help telling you what a nature she shows, and that you can never think too well of her.

View in context

Little Alice sat on Grandfather's footstool, with a picture- book in her hand; and, for every picture, the child was telling Grandfather a story.

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I wrote telling Claire to come out here on the Atlantic, knowing that Dudley was sailing on that boat.

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This parrot not only spoke well, but it had the gift of telling all that had been done before it.

She thought that one of her slaves must have been telling tales of her, but they told her it was the parrot, and she resolved to revenge herself on him.

View in context

"Well, I had a haul on Tuesday evening that it's not much good my telling anybody about."

When he had really caught three small fish, and said he had caught six, it used to make him quite jealous to hear a man, whom he knew for a fact had only caught one, going about telling people he had landed two dozen.

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Then the Spirits smiled most kindly on her, and would have put their arms about her, and have kissed her cheek, but she drew back, telling them that every touch of theirs was like a wound to her.

View in context

And now, though I was still all on fire with his first visit, and said little, he did as it were put words in my mouth, telling me how passionately he loved me, and that though he could not mention such a thing till he came to this estate, yet he was resolved to make me happy then, and himself too; that is to say, to marry me, and abundance of such fine things, which I, poor fool, did not understand the drift of, but acted as if there was no such thing as any kind of love but that which tended to matrimony; and if he had spoke of that, I had no room, as well as no power, to have said no; but we were not come that length yet.