tell on
tell on verb: to inform on, to rat out; to tell a person in authority that someone else has done something wrong.
Verb
tell on (third-person singular simple present tells on, present participle telling on, simple past and past participle told on)
- To inform on, to rat out; to tell a person in authority that someone else has done something wrong.
- My sister told on me when I didn't go to school.
- Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 27:11
- Synonyms:
- bewray
- To cause visible strain to.
- Years of drinking started to tell on his body.
tell on meaning in Tamil and Tagalog
tell on in Tamil
- to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- மாட்டிவிடு māṭṭiviṭu
tell on in Tagalog
- to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- magsumbong
Synonyms of tell on
Forms of tell on
| third-person singular present | tells on |
|---|---|
| present participle | telling on |
| past participle | told on |
| past | told on |
Questions about tell on
- What does tell on mean?
- Tell on means to inform on, to rat out; to tell a person in authority that someone else has done something wrong.
- What is tell on in Tamil?
- Tell on in Tamil is மாட்டிவிடு (māṭṭiviṭu). See Tell on meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tell on?
- Tell on is a verb.
- What is the past tense of tell on?
- The past tense of tell on is told on.
Words near tell on in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tell on (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “tell on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tell_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.