Word.ws English Dictionary

don't tell me

don't tell me phrase: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see don't, tell, me.

Phrase

don't tell me

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see don't, tell, me.
  2. (idiomatic) Used to introduce a guess at a fact or situation, as if forestalling the other speaker's utterance.
    • “Sorry. Excuse me. Am I very late?”
      Henrietta shrugged. They had travelled the world together on commissions for the Morning Graphic. They had been in many scrapes but the irritation she felt with him never went away. She admonished him.
      “Don't tell me. You've brought that damn Morgan Aero8 sports...2009, Ron Morgans, The Emerald Killers

Questions about don't tell me

What does don't tell me mean?
Don't tell me means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see don't, tell, me.
What part of speech is don't tell me?
Don't tell me is a phrase.

Words near don't tell me in the dictionary

  1. don't sweat it
  2. don't sweat the small stuff
  3. don't take any wooden nickels
  4. don't teach your grandmother how to milk ducks
  5. don't teach your grandmother to steal sheep
  6. don't tell me
  7. don't that beat all
  8. don't touch that dial
  9. don't tread on me
  10. don't try this at home
  11. don't try to teach grandma how to suck eggs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: don't tell me (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-don't tell me.ogg.

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