Word.ws English Dictionary

tells off

tells off is the third-person singular simple present indicative of tell off.

Meaning of tell off

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To number off (a group of soldiers); to divide up (soldiers) in this way.
    • To equalize a battalion is to tell off a certain number of companies, usually eight, in such a manner that the several component parts shall consist of the same number of men.1885, Edward Farrow, A Dictionary of Military Terms
  2. (transitive) To assign (someone) to a particular task, duty etc.; to depute, to allocate.
    • The provisions were packed over night and sent down by boat, in charge of the steward of the Gtdnare or some person specially told off for the purpose.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 63
  3. (transitive) To count off (numbers, members of a sequence etc.); to enumerate.
    • The Recruit looked thoughtful and told off the days on his fingers.1903, Field and Stream, page 755
    Synonyms:
    enumerate
  4. (transitive) To rebuke, to reprimand, or to admonish, often in a harsh, angry, direct way.
    • Joel's boss told him off for being late again.
    Synonyms:
    give somebody a piece of one's mind

Questions about tells off

What is tells off the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Tells off is the third-person singular simple present indicative of tell off.

Words near tells off in the dictionary

  1. tells it like it is
  2. tells it to the hand
  3. tells its own tale
  4. tells noses
  5. tells of
  6. tells off
  7. tells on
  8. tells someone where to get off
  9. tells someone where to shove it
  10. tells tales
  11. tells tales out of school

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tells off (page history and authors); tell off (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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