<p><strong>Verb (used with object)</strong></p><ul><li>to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.): to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.</li><li>Synonyms: report, describe, recount.</li><li>to make known by speech or writing (a fact, news, information, etc.); communicate.</li><li>Synonyms: impart.</li><li>to announce or proclaim.</li><li>to utter (the truth, a lie, etc.).</li><li>Synonyms: speak.</li><li>to express in words (thoughts, feelings, etc.).</li><li>to reveal or divulge (something secret or private).</li><li>Synonyms: spill the beans, confess, avow, admit, own, acknowledge, reveal, expose, disclose, betray, bare, squeal.</li><li>to say plainly or positively: I cannot tell just what was done.</li><li>to discern or recognize (a distant person or thing) so as to be able to identify or describe: Can you tell who that is over there?</li><li>to distinguish; discriminate; ascertain: You could hardly tell the difference between them.</li><li>to inform (a person) of something: He told me his name.</li><li>to assure emphatically: I won't, I tell you!</li><li>to bid, order, or command: Tell him to stop.</li><li>to mention one after another, as in enumerating; count or set one by one or in exact amount: to tell the cattle in a herd; All told there were 17 if we are correct.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object)</strong></p><ul><li>to give an account or report: Tell me about your trip.</li><li>to give evidence or be an indication: The ruined temples told of an ancient culture, long since passed from existence.</li><li>to disclose something secret or private; inform; tattle: She knows who did it, but she won't tell.</li><li>to say positively; determine; predict: Who can tell?</li><li>to have force or effect; operate effectively: a contest in which every stroke tells.</li><li>to produce a marked or severe effect: The strain was telling on his health.</li><li>British Dialect: to talk or chat.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb phrase</strong></p><ul><li>to tattle on (someone).</li><li>to separate from the whole and assign to a particular duty.</li><li>Informal: to rebuke severely; scold: It was about time that someone told him off.</li></ul>