# telling

Pronunciation: say "TEL-ing" /ˈtɛlɪŋ/

## Adjective

1. Revealing information and bearing significance.
   - Simple: Showing something important, often without anyone meaning to reveal it.
   - _The detective noticed a telling detail in the suspect's story._
   - _Their reluctance to answer the question was telling._
5. Having a strong or decisive effect; forceful and convincing.
   - Simple: Strong and effective, making people agree or causing a real result.
   - _She landed a telling blow in the final round._
   - _His telling argument changed the committee's vote._

## Verb

2. Present participle of tell. — present participle and gerund of tell
   - Simple: The -ing form of tell, as in she is telling a story or he kept telling jokes.
   - _The witness is telling investigators everything she saw._
   - _By telling the truth, he avoided greater trouble._

## Noun

3. The act of narrating or relating a story to an audience.
   - Simple: The act of sharing a story with others, by speaking or writing.
   - _In the telling, the journey sounded far more dangerous than it really was._
   - _The careful telling of events helped the jury follow what happened._
4. The ability to determine or know something with certainty.
   - Simple: The ability to know or work out something for certain.
   - _There is no telling how the market will react to the announcement._
   - _With the trail washed out, there was no telling which path was safe._
6. The act of disclosing or revealing information that was not previously known.
   - Simple: The act of letting out information or secrets to others.
   - _The telling of classified details led to his dismissal._
   - _The family had kept the adoption a secret for years, and when the telling finally came, it was gentler than anyone had feared._

## Noun

7. The act of counting or numbering things. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The act of counting things one by one.

## Origin

The gerund of the verb "tell," formed from "tell" plus the suffix "-ing."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/telling (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).