1
as in gossipers
a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others
the media's professional telltales have basically decided that today's celebrities have no right to privacy
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in informants
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing
the department telltale told the boss that his coworkers were taking extra long breaks
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for telltales
Noun
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Jessica Simpson has gotten used to gossipers gossiping about her private life.
Noun
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In 2020, for example, the high court ruled that Muslim men who claimed that their religious rights were violated for being placed on the government’s no-fly list after refusing to serve as FBI informants could sue the FBI agents for damages.
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More recently, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights nonprofit accused by Republicans of targeting conservatives in its work tracking extremists — with defrauding donors through payments to informants.
Noun
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The piece contends that while rumors circulated among political gossips and online, these remained unsubstantiated whispers that did not meet journalism’s evidentiary threshold for publication.
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Local gossips claimed that Chin Ming Tai paid Moy Sing a bride price of $20,000, an astronomical sum for the time.
Noun
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One of State Security’s main goals, as well as a central source of its strength, is turning civilians into informers.
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And so every regime invests in having student informers.
Noun
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The Edge and Adam Clayton both release canaries into the air in slow motion.
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These living materials could also serve as canaries in the coal mine for water safety, glowing brighter or dimming in the presence of specific toxins.
Cite this Entry
“Telltales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/telltales. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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