English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈtɛlɪŋ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛlɪŋ

Etymology 1

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Verb

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telling

  1. present participle and gerund of tell

Adjective

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telling (comparative more telling, superlative most telling)

  1. Having force, or having a marked effect; weighty, effective.
    a telling blow
  2. 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.
  3. Serving to convince.
    telling evidence
Translations
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Derived terms

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Etymology 2

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

Noun

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telling (countable and uncountable, plural tellings)

  1. The act of narration.
  2. The disclosure of information.
  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
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Derived terms
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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Etymology

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From tellen +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: tel‧ling

Noun

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telling f (plural tellingen, diminutive tellinkje n)

  1. counting, count

Derived terms

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From telle +‎ -ing.

Noun

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telling f or m (definite singular tellinga or tellingen, indefinite plural tellinger, definite plural tellingene)

  1. counting, a count (act of counting)

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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West Frisian

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Etymology

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From telle +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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telling c (plural tellingen)

  1. counting, count

Derived terms

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Further reading

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