telling
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtɛlɪŋ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛlɪŋ
Verb
telling
- present participle of tell
Adjective
telling (comparative more telling, superlative most telling)
- Having force, or having a marked effect; weighty, effective.
- a telling blow
- Revealing information; bearing significance.
- a telling smile
- 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
- But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
- Serving to convince.
- telling evidence
Derived terms
- tellingly
- tellingness
Etymology 2
Gerund from the verb tell, from tell + -ing.
Noun
telling (plural tellings)
- The act of narration.
- The disclosure of information.
- (archaic) Counting, numbering.
- (chiefly in the negative) Ability to determine.
- 1922, Chisholm, A[rthur] M[urray], A Thousand a Plate:
- "One white man." said Bill, after a brief inspection. "Out on his line, I s'pose, and there's no tellin' when he'll be back. So we won't wait. We'll just serve notice on him."
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Synonyms
- (counting, numbering): enumeration; see also Thesaurus:counting
Anagrams
- gillnet
Dutch
Etymology
From tellen + -ing.
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: tel‧ling
Noun
telling f (plural tellingen, diminutive tellinkje n)
- counting, count
Derived terms
- jaartelling
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From telle + -ing.
Noun
telling f or m (definite singular tellinga or tellingen, indefinite plural tellinger, definite plural tellingene)
- counting, a count (act of counting)
Derived terms
- folketelling
- nedtelling
See also
- teljing (Nynorsk)
References
- “telling” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
- “telling” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
West Frisian
Etymology
From telle + -ing.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtɛlɪŋ/
Noun
telling c (plural tellingen)
- counting, count
Derived terms
- jiertelling
Further reading
- “telling”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011