Word.ws English Dictionary

only time will tell

only time will tell is the alternative form of time will tell.

Meaning of time will tell

Phrase

time will tell

  1. (idiomatic) Events and outcomes cannot be known beforehand.
    • This may not be a good idea, but time will tell.

Questions about only time will tell

What is only time will tell the alternative form of?
Only time will tell is the alternative form of time will tell.

Words near only time will tell in the dictionary

  1. only Nixon can go to China
  2. only Nixon could go to China
  3. only son
  4. only sons
  5. only the good die young
  6. only time will tell
  7. only too
  8. only trotting after
  9. only-begotten
  10. onlyborn
  11. onlyborns

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: only time will tell (page history and authors); time will tell (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-only time will tell.ogg.

Cite this entry: “only time will tell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/only_time_will_tell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.