Word.ws English Dictionary

telling its own tale

telling its own tale is the present participle and gerund of tell its own tale.

Meaning of tell its own tale

Verb

tell its own tale (third-person singular simple present tells its own tale, present participle telling its own tale, simple past and past participle told its own tale)

  1. (idiomatic) To speak for itself; to require no explanation.
    • […] and looking out she saw Sir William Grant approaching at an easy trot, for he was anxious to avoid giving her any sudden shock; but the poor animal's state told its own tale; and starting up, Lady Sydney herself opened the hall-door […]1868, Frances Mary Oxenham, Edith Sydney, page 19

Questions about telling its own tale

What is telling its own tale the present participle and gerund of?
Telling its own tale is the present participle and gerund of tell its own tale.

Words near telling its own tale in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: telling its own tale (page history and authors); tell its own tale (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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