different between tell vs brief
tell
English
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) enPR: t?l, IPA(key): /t?l/, /t??/
- Rhymes: -?l
Etymology 1
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-Germanic *taljan?, *talzijan? (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *tal?, *tal? (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.
Verb
tell (third-person singular simple present tells, present participle telling, simple past and past participle told)
- (transitive, archaic outside of idioms) 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.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:
- (transitive) To narrate.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- Tell her you’re here.
- Tell her you’re here.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- (transitive) To convey by speech; to say.
- (transitive) To instruct or inform.
- 1611, Bible (King James Version), Genesis xii. 18
- Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
- 1611, Bible (King James Version), Genesis xii. 18
- (transitive) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Ann Veronica
- She said she hoped she had not distressed him by the course she had felt obliged to take, and he told her not to be a fool.
- 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.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Ann Veronica
- (intransitive) 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.
- (transitive) To reveal.
- (intransitive) To be revealed.
- 1990, Stephen Coonts, Under Siege, 1991 Pocket Books edition, ?ISBN, 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.
- 1990, Stephen Coonts, Under Siege, 1991 Pocket Books edition, ?ISBN, p.409:
- (intransitive) 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 hold […] keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favour.
- 1859 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
- (transitive) To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
- (intransitive, childish) To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
- I saw you steal those sweets! I'm going to tell!
- (authorship, intransitive) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show
- Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
Usage notes
- In dialects, other past tense forms (besides told) may be found, including tald/tauld (Scotland), tawld (Devonshire), teld (Yorkshire, Devonshire), telled (Northern England, Scotland, and in nonstandard speech generally), telt (Scotland, Geordie), tole (AAVE, Southern US, and some dialects of England), toll (AAVE), tolt (AAVE).
- In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb tell had the form tellest, and had toldest for its past tense.
- Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form telleth was used.
Conjugation
Synonyms
- (enumerate): count, number; see also Thesaurus:count
- (narrate): narrate, recount, relate
- (to instruct or inform): advise, apprise; See also Thesaurus:inform
- (reveal): disclose, make known; See also Thesaurus:divulge
- (inform someone in authority): grass up, snitch, tattle; See also Thesaurus:rat out
Antonyms
- (to instruct or inform): ask
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
tell (plural tells)
- 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.
- (archaic) That which is told; a tale or account.
- April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann
- I am at the end of my tell.
- April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann
- (Internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
See also
- dead giveaway
Etymology 2
From Arabic ????? (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew ????? (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).
Noun
tell (plural tells)
- (archaeology) A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
tell
- imperative of telle
tell From the web:
- what tells the hardware what to do and how to do it
- what tells your cells what to do
- what tells a ribosome how to assemble a protein
- what tells the story of a chemical reaction
- what tells you population density
- what tells the heart to beat
- what tells the ribosome to start
- what tells an atom's identity
brief
English
Etymology
From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mré??us (“short, brief”). Doublet of merry.
Pronunciation
- enPR: br?f, IPA(key): /b?i?f/
- Rhymes: -i?f
Adjective
brief (comparative briefer, superlative briefest)
- Of short duration; happening quickly. [from 15th c.]
- Concise; taking few words. [from 15th c.]
- Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short. [from 17th c.]
- 1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin 2009, p. 17:
- On the beach he always wore a straw hat with a red band and a brief pair of leopard print trunks.
- 1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin 2009, p. 17:
- (obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:ephemeral
- See also Thesaurus:concise
Derived terms
- briefen
- briefly
Related terms
- brevity
Translations
Noun
brief (plural briefs)
- (law) A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
- (law) An answer to any action.
- 1996, Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure[4], Article 79, Section 1:
- A written answer or any other brief shall be submitted to the court while allowing a period necessary for the opponent to make preparations with regard to the matters stated therein.
- 1996, Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure[4], Article 79, Section 1:
- (law) A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
- (by extension, figuratively) A position of interest or advocacy.
- (law) An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.
- (English law) The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who tries the case.
- A short news story or report.
- (usually in the plural) underwear briefs.
- (obsolete) A summary, précis or epitome; an abridgement or abstract.
- 1589, Thomas Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie[5]:
- […] euen ?o it fareth with mee, who béeing about to anatomize Ab?urditie, am vrged to take a view of ?undry mens vanitie, a ?uruey of their follie, a briefe of their barbari?me […]
- 1589, Thomas Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie[5]:
- (Britain, historical) A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
- (slang) A ticket of any type.
Derived terms
- briefs
- control brief
Translations
References
- John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “brief”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN
Verb
brief (third-person singular simple present briefs, present participle briefing, simple past and past participle briefed)
- (transitive) To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power.
- (transitive, law) To write a legal argument and submit it to a court.
Derived terms
- debrief
Translations
Adverb
brief (comparative more brief, superlative most brief)
- (obsolete, poetic) Briefly.
- (obsolete, poetic) Soon; quickly.
Related terms
- briefing
- brevity
References
Further reading
- brief in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- brief in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- brief at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- FBIer, fiber, fibre
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Dutch brief, from Middle Dutch brief, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Latin brevis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /brif/
Noun
brief (plural briewe)
- letter (written message)
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch brief, from Old Dutch [Term?], borrowed from Latin brevis (“short”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /brif/
- Hyphenation: brief
- Rhymes: -if
Noun
brief m (plural brieven, diminutive briefje n)
- letter (written message)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Afrikaans: brief
- ? Sranan Tongo: brifi
References
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French brief.
Adjective
brief m (feminine singular briefve, masculine plural briefs, feminine plural briefves)
- brief; short
Descendants
- French: bref
Old French
Alternative forms
- bref
Etymology
From Latin brevis.
Adjective
brief m (oblique and nominative feminine singular brieve)
- brief, short in length
Declension
Derived terms
- briement
Noun
brief m (oblique plural briés, nominative singular briés, nominative plural brief)
- (short) letter or statement
Descendants
- Middle French: brief
- French: bref
- ? Middle English: bref, breef, breve, brefe, breefe
- English: brief, breve
- Scots: brief, brieve, breef, briefe
brief From the web:
- what brief means
- what briefly happened to boo radley
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- what brief history linked to the day
- what briefly about the components of time series
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