tell of

phrasal verb

told of; telling of; tells of

formal + literary

: to be evidence of (something) : to indicate

Her smile told of her good news.

His rough hands tell of a hard life.

: to describe (something) : to make the details of (something) known

The article tells of her Arctic journey.

: to talk to (someone) about (something)

He told us of his plans to move to the city.

Examples of tell of in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web To shield him from the anguish of those losses, the sixth grader has still not been told of them. —

Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Oct. 2024 Buy Now 08 of 10 ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë Nothing spells dark and moody like Emily Brontës classic novel, telling of the tempestuous romance between young Catherine Earnshaw and the brooding Heathcliff. —

Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 25 Oct. 2024 Brondello laughed when told of Reeve’s stance, before taking the high road. —

Sean Gregory, TIME, 21 Oct. 2024 Recent social media posts indicate workers at numerous plants have either been told of cuts or are bracing for them. —

Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, 25 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for tell of

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tell of.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.