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Tell vs Discourse - What's the difference?

tell | discourse | Related terms |

In intransitive terms the difference between tell and discourse

is that tell is to have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated while discourse is to write or speak formally and at length.

As verbs the difference between tell and discourse

is that tell is to count, reckon, or enumerate while discourse is to engage in discussion or conversation; to converse.

As nouns the difference between tell and discourse

is that tell is 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 while discourse is verbal exchange, conversation.

tell

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ((etyl) telja). More at tale.

Verb

  • (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= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“
  • (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
  • :
  • *, chapter=4
  • , title= 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.}}
  • (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= 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, relate
    Antonyms
    * (to instruct or inform) ask
    Derived terms
    * all told * tell against * tell all * tell-all * tell off * tell on * tell-tale / telltale * tell tales * tell tales out of school * teller

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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
  • I am at the end of my tell .
  • (internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
  • See also
    * dead giveaway

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
  • Verb

    (head)
  • discourse

    Noun

  • (uncountable, archaic) Verbal exchange, conversation.
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
  • Two or three of the gentlemen sat near him, and I caught at times scraps of their conversation across the room. At first I could not make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of Louisa Eshton and Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentary sentences that reached me at intervals.
  • (uncountable) Expression in words, either speech or writing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
  • , author= , title=Pixels or Perish , volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse . Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • (countable) A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written.
  • The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.
  • (countable) Any rational expression, reason.
  • * South
  • difficult, strange, and harsh to the discourses of natural reason
  • * Shakespeare
  • Sure he that made us with such large discourse , / Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and godlike reason / To rust in us unused.
  • (social sciences, countable) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after ).
  • * 2007 , Christine L. Marran, Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture (page 137)
  • Furthermore, it should be recalled from the previous chapter that criminological discourse of the 1930s deemed every woman a potential criminal, implicitly including the domestic woman.
  • * 2008 , Jane Anna Gordon, Lewis Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies (page 308)
  • But equally important to the emergence of uniquely African-American queer discourses is the refusal of African-American movements for liberation to address adequately issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • (obsolete) Dealing; transaction.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Good Captain Bessus, tell us the discourse / Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how / We got the victory.

    Synonyms

    * (expression in words) communication, expression * (verbal exchange) debate, conversation, discussion, talk * (formal lengthy exposition of some subject) dissertation, lecture, sermon, study, treatise * (rational expression) ratiocination

    Derived terms

    * direct discourse * indirect discourse

    Verb

    (discours)
  • To engage in discussion or conversation; to converse.
  • To write or speak formally and at length.
  • (obsolete) To debate.
  • To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason.
  • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

    * (engage in discussion or conversation) converse, talk * (write or speak formally and at length)

    Derived terms

    * discourser

    See also

    * essay