Meanings
present singular third person tells on · participle present telling on · participle past told on · past told on
- childishusuallyTo inform on, to rat out; to tell a person in authority that someone else has done something wrong.
My sister told on me when I didn't go to school.
1 more example
Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 27:11Synonyms: bewray
- To cause visible strain to.
Years of drinking started to tell on his body.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo inform on, to rat out; to tell a person in authority that someone else has done something wrong.
More synonyms by meaning
verbgive away information about somebody
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Czech žalovat
- žalovatto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Danish sladre
- sladreto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Dutch klikken
- klikkento tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Finnish kannella
- kannellato tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
French balancer
- balancerto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
German verpetzen
- verpetzento tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Hungarian beárul, árulkodik
- beárulto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- árulkodikto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Polish skarżyć, poskarżyć
- skarżyćto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- poskarżyćto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Portuguese dedurar
- dedurarto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Romanian pârî
- pârîto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Russian я́бедничать, ная́бедничать
- я́бедничать (jábedničatʹ)to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- ная́бедничать (najábedničatʹ)to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- стуча́ть (stučátʹ)to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- настуча́ть (nastučátʹ)to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Spanish chivarse, delatar
- chivarseto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- delatarto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- chivatearto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Swedish skvallra, tjalla
- skvallrato tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
- tjallato tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Tagalog magsumbong
- magsumbongto tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Tamil மாட்டிவிடு
- மாட்டிவிடு (māṭṭiviṭu)to tell someone that someone else has done something wrong
Cite this entry
tell on. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20on
“tell on.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20on. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tell on,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tell%20on.
Source: tell on on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.