'Telling' definitions:

Definition of 'telling'

From: WordNet
adjective
Disclosing unintentionally; "a telling smile"; "a telltale panel of lights"; "a telltale patch of oil on the water marked where the boat went down" [syn: revealing, telling, telltale(a)]
adjective
Powerfully persuasive; "a cogent argument"; "a telling presentation"; "a weighty argument" [syn: cogent, telling, weighty]
adjective
Producing a strong effect; "gave an impressive performance as Othello"; "a telling gesture" [syn: impressive, telling]
noun
An act of narration; "he was the hero according to his own relation"; "his endless recounting of the incident eventually became unbearable" [syn: relation, telling, recounting]
noun
Informing by words [syn: telling, apprisal, notification]
noun
Disclosing information or giving evidence about another [syn: tattle, singing, telling]

Definition of 'Telling'

From: GCIDE
  • Tell \Tell\ (t[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Told (t[=o]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Telling.] [AS. tellan, from talu tale, number, speech; akin to D. tellen to count, G. z[aum]hlen, OHG. zellen to count, tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak, t[ae]lle to count. See Tale that which is told.]
  • 1. To mention one by one, or piece by piece; to recount; to enumerate; to reckon; to number; to count; as, to tell money. "An heap of coin he told." --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • He telleth the number of the stars. --Ps. cxlvii. 4. [1913 Webster]
  • Tell the joints of the body. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate. [1913 Webster]
  • Of which I shall tell all the array. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • And not a man appears to tell their fate. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge. [1913 Webster]
  • Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? --Gen. xii. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform. [1913 Webster]
  • A secret pilgrimage, That you to-day promised to tell me of? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To order; to request; to command. [1913 Webster]
  • He told her not to be frightened. --Dickens. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To discern so as to report; to ascertain by observing; to find out; to discover; as, I can not tell where one color ends and the other begins. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to estimate. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • I ne told no dainity of her love. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Tell, though equivalent in some respect to speak and say, has not always the same application. We say, to tell truth or falsehood, to tell a number, to tell the reasons, to tell something or nothing; but we never say, to tell a speech, discourse, or oration, or to tell an argument or a lesson. It is much used in commands; as, tell me the whole story; tell me all you know. [1913 Webster]
  • To tell off, to count; to divide. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform; acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Telling'

From: GCIDE
  • Telling \Tell"ing\, a. Operating with great effect; effective; as, a telling speech. -- {Tell"ing*ly}, adv. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'telling'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Telling'