tell the time
idiom
British
: to be able to know what time it is by looking at a clock
My son is just learning to tell the time.
Examples of tell the time in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As day becomes night, the light shifts, capturing the dance of smoke in the air while the thap casts shadows that tell the time.
—
Smitha Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Apr. 2023
When the show is over, the butterflies return to tell the time quietly again.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2024
His dominant contribution was teaching computers how to tell the time.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Unlike traditional minute repeaters, which chime the hours, quarter hours, and minutes to audibly tell the time, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater chimes the hours, 10-minute intervals, and minutes.
—Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 24 Oct. 2023
By simply looking around the garden, a knowledgeable gardener could tell the time of day.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 27 Aug. 2012
Until now, there was no way to tell the time anywhere on the YouTube TV user interface.
—Jacob Siegal, BGR, 13 Nov. 2022
For decades, the UK, like almost every other country, has relied on global navigation satellite systems—signals from satellites orbiting in space—to tell the time accurately.
—WIRED, 27 Aug. 2022
This futuristic digital clock does more than just tell the time.
—Bianca Rodriguez, Good Housekeeping, 6 July 2022
Smitha Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Apr. 2023
When the show is over, the butterflies return to tell the time quietly again.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2024
His dominant contribution was teaching computers how to tell the time.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Unlike traditional minute repeaters, which chime the hours, quarter hours, and minutes to audibly tell the time, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater chimes the hours, 10-minute intervals, and minutes.
—Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 24 Oct. 2023
By simply looking around the garden, a knowledgeable gardener could tell the time of day.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 27 Aug. 2012
Until now, there was no way to tell the time anywhere on the YouTube TV user interface.
—Jacob Siegal, BGR, 13 Nov. 2022
For decades, the UK, like almost every other country, has relied on global navigation satellite systems—signals from satellites orbiting in space—to tell the time accurately.
—WIRED, 27 Aug. 2022
This futuristic digital clock does more than just tell the time.
—Bianca Rodriguez, Good Housekeeping, 6 July 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tell the time.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tell the time
Cite this Entry
“Tell the time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tell%20the%20time. Accessed 14 Jun. 2024.
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