Think vs Tell - What's the difference?
think | tell |
(label) To ponder, to go over in one's head.
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*:So this was my future home, I thought ! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
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To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of'''; infrequently, by '''on ).
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(label) To be of the opinion (that).
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, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
(label) To guess; to reckon.
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(label) To consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
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*, chapter=1
, title= To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
*Sir (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe)
*:The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he
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, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
To presume; to venture.
*(Bible), (w) iii. 9
*:Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
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(label) To seem, to appear.
*:
(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
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*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.
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*, chapter=7
, title= (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
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*, chapter=4
, title= (lb) To instruct or inform.
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*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.
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*(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.
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*: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.
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(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.
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*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 think and tell
is that think is (label) to ponder, to go over in one's head or think can be (label) to seem, to appear while tell is (lb) to count, reckon, or enumerate.As nouns the difference between think and tell
is that think is an act of thinking; consideration (of something) while 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 or tell can be (archaeology) a mound, originally in the middle east, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.think
English
Alternative forms
* thinck (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from (etyl) .Verb
Revenge of the nerds, passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”}}
Synonyms
* (sense, communicate to oneself in one's mind) cogitate, ponder, reflect, ruminate; see also * opine; see also * guess (US), imagine, reckon, suppose * consider, deem, find, judge, regard; see alsoDerived terms
* rethink * think about * thinker * thinko * think of * think on one's feet * think out * think over * think piece * think the world of * think twice * think up * think with one's little head * unthinkableNoun
(en-noun)Derived terms
* badthink * doublethink * goodthink * groupthink * have another think coming * rethink (noun, as in "have a rethink")Etymology 2
From (etyl)Verb
think' (''obsolete except in archaic'' ' methinks )- And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne / he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree // And then he leid hym doune to slepe / And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym / the whiche sayd A launcelot of euylle feythe and poure byleue / wherfor is thy wille tourned soo lyghtely toward thy dedely synne
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 .
