How to use telltale in a sentence

28 example sentences · noun, adjective

Telltale means one who divulges private information with intent to hurt others. Example: “The telltale was the lipstick on his shirt collar.”

Examples of telltale by meaning

nounOne who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.

Louis tells me that the gossip of the sailors finds its way aft, and that two of the telltales have been badly beaten by their mates.1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC
The Chinese girls who saw me yesterday are telltales.2008, Fleur Yano, Collected Writings of Flora Belle Jan, page 112
Nobody loves a telltale.2011, Elizabeth Grahamslaw, A Parents' Guide To Primary School

nounAn indicator, such as a warning light, that serves to warn of a hazard or problem.

A float telltale to be provided which shall connect with indicator on first floor by a small chain run through 1-2 inch pipe and over pulleys well guarded against the weather.1901, National Fire Protection Association, Proceedings - Volume 5, page 127
Accordingly, automobiles aboard piggyback flats are usually coupled into the train 15 or more cars behind the locomotive; and telltales have been raised.1960 November, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684
Except for informational readout displays, each discrete and distinct telltale shall be of the color shown in column 2 of Table 2.1980, The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America, page 150

nounSomething that serves to reveal something else.

The telltale was the lipstick on his shirt collar.
In most cases the event is shielded by a large mass and only telltales arrive on earth.2000, Dany Page, Jorge G. Hirsch, From the Sun to the Great Attractor, page 49
It can be claimed that VC-dimension is to PAC-learning what finite telltales are to Inductive inference.2003, Eric Martin, Arun Sharma, Frank Stephan, “On Ordinal VC-Dimension and Some Notions of Complexity”, in Ricard Gavalda, Klaus P....

nounA length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative...

The sailmakers mistake can be an excellent way to lose a race as the telltale signals were disturbed and confusing.1997, Patrick M. Royce, Royce's Sailing Illustrated - Volume 2
If you turn toward the wind, the sail becomes undertrimmed, and the inside, or windward, telltale starts to rise and flutter as the flow is disturbed.2011, J. J. Isler, Peter Isler, Sailing For Dummies, page 245
The telltale shows if wind is flowing across the sail on every point of sail except a run.2014, John Rousmaniere, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, page 76

nounA story or fable that has a moral or message.

"Metamorphoses . . ." is the title of a book of telltales (or serialised fables) written by Lucius Apulei¡us, a neo-platonist priest in the second century A.D.2012, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, The Origins of Life, page 130
This telltale is not like the story that you put in the hands of your children, or those narrated by mothers in their children's bedrooms in Western Europe before sleep.2018, Dawood Kaloti, The Telltale Leaflet: From Palestine to Stockholm

adjectiveRevealing something, especially something not intended to be known.

I noticed the snow was dirty, a telltale sign of recent human presence.
A telltale blush crept into her cheeks as he approached.
The telltale long pointed ears of elven heritage.2025 June 15, Troy S. Teller, “A Duel in the Skies”, in Awakening (A Road of Magic; 1), →ISBN, page 18

More sentences with telltale

She's from Mexico.” He had a telltale smile on his face.2008, Denny Durbin, Lazy Enchiladas: Redefining Success: Tasty Lessons on Love, Life, & Relationships, Bodega Publishing, →ISBN, page 13. From the entry tomato
Many of the Americans’ garments displayed the telltale folds of a shirt just out of the store.1986 June 29, Norman Kempster, “Reporter’s Notebook: Shultz Relives Wartime Island Landing”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.…. From the entry trade-mark
Telltale marks around the pan of yeast gave him a clew to the trouble.1910, “Duck Eats Yeast,”, in The Yakima Herald. From the entry clew
Wilson ’s full-grown flatulent Führer in “Winnie and Wolf” — with their telltale mania for purity, order and efficiency.2009 March 8, David Gates, “The Monster in the Mirror”, in New York Times. From the entry excretorily
This social disease is epidemic both east and west of the Rocky Mountains and the telltale symptoms are are well known.1980, Paul A. Hutton, The Cowboy Hero review, Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, Number 3, Summer 1980, pages 321-322. From the entry cowboyitis
They had left their telltale and breathful mark.1968, The Herbarist - Issues 34-37, page 32. From the entry breathful
The most logical explanation for the telltale randomly oriented magnetic rock materials is the recurrent careenings of the globe.1967, Cataclysms of the Earth, page 86. From the entry careening
Sore throat is the telltale sign.2023 April 14, Dani Blum, “Strep Is on the Rise. Here’s How to Minimize Your Risk.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry strep
To a worried mother searching her son or daughter’s face for a telltale failure of eye contact, they may as well have been speaking Latin.2015, Steve Silberman, edited by Megan Newman, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York: Avery, →ISBN. From the entry tamp down
The support structure was so good that if a vehicle sustained damage while running a police barrier, repairs were affected overnight, leaving no telltale traces.2000, Douglas Ranmuthugala, Tales of the Blue Elephant, page 124. From the entry police barrier
Merely finding them in the first place — detecting their radio voices and photographing their odd and telltale light — was a cooperative triumph of radio and optical astronomy.1966 March 11, “The Man on the Mountain”, in Time Magazine. From the entry optical astronomy

Meaning of telltale

noun One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.
noun An indicator, such as a warning light, that serves to warn of a hazard or problem.
noun Something that serves to reveal something else.

Full definition of telltale

Questions about telltale in a sentence

How do you use telltale in a sentence?: Telltale is used as a noun and adjective. For example: “The telltale was the lipstick on his shirt collar.”
What is a short sentence with telltale?: “Nobody loves a telltale.”
What does telltale mean?: Telltale means one who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.

Adapted from Wiktionary: telltale (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use telltale in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/telltale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.