Word.ws English Dictionary

told its own tale

told its own tale is the simple past and past participle 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 told its own tale

What is told its own tale the simple past and past participle of?
Told its own tale is the simple past and past participle of tell its own tale.

Words near told its own tale in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: told 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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