Word.ws English Dictionary

telling it like it is

telling it like it is is the present participle and gerund of tell it like it is.

Meaning of tell it like it is

Verb

tell it like it is (third-person singular simple present tells it like it is, present participle telling it like it is, simple past and past participle told it like it is)

  1. (idiomatic) To speak frankly, to convey all and only the truth of a situation.

Questions about telling it like it is

What is telling it like it is the present participle and gerund of?
Telling it like it is is the present participle and gerund of tell it like it is.

Words near telling it like it is in the dictionary

  1. telling all
  2. telling apart
  3. telling bone
  4. telling bones
  5. telling fortunes
  6. telling it like it is
  7. telling it to the hand
  8. telling its own tale
  9. telling noses
  10. telling of
  11. telling off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: telling it like it is (page history and authors); tell it like it is (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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