Word.ws English Dictionary

tells time

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

Meaning of tell time

Verb

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

  1. To measure time, to determine the current time.
    • Ancient civilizations told time at night by the passage of stars.
    Synonyms:
    keep time
  2. (specifically) To read the time as displayed on an analog clock.
    • He couldn't tell time until he was in his teens.

Questions about tells time

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

Words near tells time in the dictionary

  1. tells tales
  2. tells tales out of school
  3. tells the time
  4. tells the truth
  5. tells the truth and shames the devil
  6. tells time
  7. tells volumes
  8. tellsome
  9. telltale
  10. telltale compass
  11. telltale compasses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tells time (page history and authors); tell time (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: “tells time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tells_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.