TELLING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does telling mean? 

• TELLING (noun)
  The noun TELLING has 3 senses:

1. an act of narration

2. informing by words

3. disclosing information or giving evidence about another

  Familiarity information: TELLING used as a noun is uncommon.

• TELLING (adjective)
  The adjective TELLING has 3 senses:

1. disclosing unintentionally something concealed

2. powerfully persuasive

3. producing a strong effect

  Familiarity information: TELLING used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TELLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act of narration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

recounting; relation; telling

Context example:

his endless recounting of the incident eventually became unbearable

Hypernyms ("telling" is a kind of...):

narration; recital; yarn (the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events)

Derivation:

tell (narrate or give a detailed account of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Informing by words

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

apprisal; notification; telling

Hypernyms ("telling" is a kind of...):

informing; making known (a speech act that conveys information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "telling"):

notice (advance notification (usually written) of the intention to withdraw from an arrangement of contract)

warning (notification of something, usually in advance)

Derivation:

tell (express in words)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Disclosing information or giving evidence about another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

singing; tattle; telling

Hypernyms ("telling" is a kind of...):

disclosure; revealing; revelation (the speech act of making something evident)

Derivation:

tell (give evidence)

telling (disclosing unintentionally something concealed)

• TELLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disclosing unintentionally something concealed

Synonyms:

revealing; telling; telltale

Context example:

a telltale patch of oil on the water marked where the boat went down

Similar:

informative; informatory (providing or conveying information)

Derivation:

telling (disclosing information or giving evidence about another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Powerfully persuasive

Synonyms:

cogent; telling; weighty

Context example:

a weighty argument

Similar:

persuasive (intended or having the power to induce action or belief)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Producing a strong effect

Synonyms:

impressive; telling

Context example:

a telling gesture

Similar:

effective; effectual; efficacious (producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect)

 Context examples 

Then suddenly, just as by your own account he was telling them that there was danger, he broke short off.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"What would Meg say to this?" thought Jo, as she was marched away, while her eyes danced with fun as she imagined herself telling the story at home.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Oh, well, I don’t mind telling you,” he said the next moment.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Well, I was telling you my tale of woe.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I keep telling her I am not married, and do not explain to her why.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

How much I am obliged to you, said he, for telling me to come to-day!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Editors wrote to him telling him to name his own terms, which he did, but it was always for work performed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I want to be your neighbour, Sir Thomas, as you have, perhaps, heard me telling Miss Price.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

All the time that she was telling me this story she never once looked in my direction, and her voice was quite unlike her usual tones.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was no telling what unknown terrors were theirs, what unknown hurts they could administer.

(White Fang, by Jack London)