telling

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛlɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlɪŋ

Etymology 1

Verb

telling

1. present participle and gerund of tell

Adjective

telling (comparative more telling, superlative most telling)

2. Having force, or having a marked effect; weighty, effective.

   a telling blow

4. 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)‎^[1]:

     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.

6. Serving to convince.

   telling evidence

Translations

revealing information; bearing significance

• Finnish: paljonpuhuva (fi), kuvaava (fi)
• Spanish: revelador (es) m, expresivo (es) m, indicante (es)

Derived terms

• tellingly
• tellingness

Etymology 2

Gerund from the verb tell, from tell +‎ -ing.

Noun

telling (countable and uncountable, plural tellings)

1. The act of narration.
2. The disclosure of information.
   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 16:

     There may he sit and smile, or creep among the ships, or moan and sigh round islands in his great content—the miser lord of wealth in gems and pearls beyond the telling of all fables.

3. (archaic) Counting, numbering.
4. (chiefly in the negative) Ability to determine.
   • 1922, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, 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."

Synonyms

• (counting, numbering): enumeration; see also Thesaurus:counting

Derived terms

• fortune-telling
• life-telling
• telling bone
• truth-telling

 

Anagrams

• gillnet, gill net

Dutch

Etymology

From tellen +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tel‧ling

Noun

telling f (plural tellingen, diminutive tellinkje n)

1. 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)

1. 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)

1. counting, count

Derived terms

• jiertelling

Further reading

• “telling”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011