tell on
phrasal verb
told on; telling on; tells on
1
informal
: to tell someone in authority about the bad behavior or actions of (someone else)
Please don't tell on me.
2
: to have a noticeable effect on (someone or something)
The stress began to tell on her face/health.
Examples of tell on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The expense will be funded using excess revenue from 2023, commissioners were told on Thursday.
—
Arkansas Online, 16 Oct. 2025
Carrasco said Gilbert prosecutors were told on July 30 that the County Attorney's Office was going to surrender to Doran's argument that the breath test results should be excluded as evidence since Pennington admitted to drinking.
—Elena Santa Cruz, AZCentral.com, 27 Sep. 2025
Forty-five years later, Cottrell's story was told on Long Lost Family, with the team discovering that her biological son, Paul Clarke, a university lecturer, was still living in Liverpool and had been married to his partner, Owen, for 20 years.
—Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 25 Sep. 2025
The pressure of perfection starts to tell on Redford’s character, Paul, who winds up drunk, in Washington Square Park, in broad daylight, tipping garbage over himself.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tell on
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Arkansas Online, 16 Oct. 2025
Carrasco said Gilbert prosecutors were told on July 30 that the County Attorney's Office was going to surrender to Doran's argument that the breath test results should be excluded as evidence since Pennington admitted to drinking.
—Elena Santa Cruz, AZCentral.com, 27 Sep. 2025
Forty-five years later, Cottrell's story was told on Long Lost Family, with the team discovering that her biological son, Paul Clarke, a university lecturer, was still living in Liverpool and had been married to his partner, Owen, for 20 years.
—Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 25 Sep. 2025
The pressure of perfection starts to tell on Redford’s character, Paul, who winds up drunk, in Washington Square Park, in broad daylight, tipping garbage over himself.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tell on
Cite this Entry
“Tell on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tell%20on. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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