Speaks vs Tells - What's the difference?
speaks | tells |
(speak)
To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
* , chapter=13
, title= To have a conversation.
(by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
To be able to communicate in a language.
To utter.
* 1611 , (Authorized King James Version) (Bible translation), 9:5:
To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
* 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) :
(informal, transitive, sometimes, humorous) To understand (as though it were a language).
To produce a sound; to sound.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To address; to accost; to speak to.
* Bible, Ecclus. xiii. 6
* Emerson
language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
(tell)
(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
:
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
*:And in his lap a masse of coyne he told , / And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye / A couetous desire with his huge threasury.
*1875 , Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine :
*:Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.
(lb) To narrate.
:
*, chapter=7
, title= (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
:
*, chapter=4
, title= (lb) To instruct or inform.
:
*Bible, (w) xii. 18
*:Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
(lb) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
:
*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)
*:He told her not to be frightened.
*'>citation
*:Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.
(lb) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
:
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
(lb) To reveal.
:
(lb) To be revealed.
*1990 , (Stephen Coonts), Under Siege, 1991 (Pocket Books) edition, ISBN 0671742949, p.409:
*:Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling . Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.
(lb) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
:
*1859 (John Stuart Mill), (On Liberty)
*:Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may holdkeeping nothing back which tells', or can be supposed to ' tell , in their favour.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
, title= A reflexive, often habitual behavior, (especially) one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
That which is told; tale; account.
* Walpole
(internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
(archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
As verbs the difference between speaks and tells
is that speaks is (speak) while tells is (tell).As a noun tells is
.speaks
English
Verb
(head)speak
English
(wikipedia speak)Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.}}
- And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
- There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits.
- Make all our trumpets speak .
- [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.
- Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.
Synonyms
* articulate, talk, verbalizeDerived terms
* public speaking * speakable * speaker * speakeasy * re-speak * unspeakable phrasal verbs * speak down * speak for * speak out * speak to * speak up idioms * actions speak louder than words * on speaking terms * so to speak * speak for oneself * speak highly of * speak ill of * speak in tongues * speak of the devil * speak one's mind * speak softly and carry a big stick * speak someone's language * speak volumes * speak with one voice * spoken forNoun
(-)- Corporate speak; IT speak
Derived terms
* artspeak * cyberspeak * doublespeak * lawyerspeak * leetspeak * medspeak * Newspeak * weather speakStatistics
*tells
English
Verb
(head)Noun
(head)tell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ((etyl) telja). More at tale.Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, passage=But England's superior fitness told in the second half, with Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (two) going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.}}
Synonyms
* (enumerate) count * (narrate) narrate, recount, relateAntonyms
* (to instruct or inform) askDerived terms
* all told * tell against * tell all * tell-all * tell off * tell on * tell-tale / telltale * tell tales * tell tales out of school * tellerNoun
(en noun)- I am at the end of my tell .