tell against

present singular third person tells against · participle present telling against · participle past told against · past told against

1. idiomatictransitiveTo function as a liability (for someone); to put into a condition of disadvantage.

   [H]ard as he worked, his age was beginning to tell against him.

   2003 June 23, First Chapter: Auto da Fay by Fay Weldon, New York Times

   2 more examples

   [S]ome people . . . have been so short-sighted and reckless as to clamor for an easy dissolution of the marriage-contract. . . . Is it possible that they do not see that this is a liberty which, once granted, would always tell against the weaker sex?

   1871, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 27, in Pink and White Tyranny

   Ernest's want of muscular strength did not tell against him here.

   1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 34, in The Way of All Flesh

   Synonyms: disadvantage, weigh against

2. idiomatictransitiveTo serve as evidence which casts doubt upon.

   [T]he comma tells against this reading.

   2002 Oct. 1, John Grimshaw, Clue Challenge: BOLE, The Times (UK)

   2 more examples

   She knew he was disposed to catch at anything that seemed to tell against Godwin's claims.

   1892, George Gissing, chapter 2, in Born In Exile

   "Such a fact must tell against the theory."

   1905, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes

   Synonyms: discredit, weigh against