See show, don't tell in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "show don't tell",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "show, don't tell",
"name": "en-proverb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English proverbs",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Galician translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Persian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
44,
60
]
],
"ref": "1999, Kendall Haven, Write Right!: Creative Writing Using Storytelling Techniques, Bloomsbury, page 186:",
"text": "The second flaw is a flagrant violation of “show, don't tell.” Don't tell readers that she's sad and he's mad. Show the reader what they do. Worst of all, don't do both!",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
190,
205
]
],
"ref": "2015 October 21, Dana Barbuto, “Review: Aaron Sorkin makes ‘Steve Jobs’ work”, in Northwest Herald:",
"text": "In “Steve Jobs,” Oscar-winning writer Aaron Sorkin “Sorkins” the hell out of an unconventional adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography by daring to break the cardinal rule of show don’t tell.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Advice to writers: convey an impression by the way that events are described in the narrative, and not by explicitly stating facts."
],
"id": "en-show,_don't_tell-en-proverb-pGthwsXn",
"links": [
[
"writer",
"writer"
],
[
"convey",
"convey"
],
[
"impression",
"impression"
],
[
"event",
"event"
],
[
"describe",
"describe"
],
[
"narrative",
"narrative"
],
[
"explicit",
"explicit"
],
[
"stating",
"state"
],
[
"fact",
"fact"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "show and tell"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "لا تفصح، بل أبد"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "toon, in plaats van te vertellen"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "montru, ne rakontu"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "montre, ne dis pas"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostrar, non contar"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "zeigen, nicht erzählen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostra, non raccontare"
},
{
"code": "fa",
"lang": "Persian",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "نشان دهید، نگویید"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "pokazyvaj, a ne rasskazyvaj",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "показывай, а не рассказывай"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostrar, no contar"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ʃəʊ dəʊnt tɛl/"
}
],
"word": "show, don't tell"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "show don't tell",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "show, don't tell",
"name": "en-proverb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
"related": [
{
"word": "show and tell"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English proverbs",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Arabic translations",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Esperanto translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with Galician translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Persian translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
44,
60
]
],
"ref": "1999, Kendall Haven, Write Right!: Creative Writing Using Storytelling Techniques, Bloomsbury, page 186:",
"text": "The second flaw is a flagrant violation of “show, don't tell.” Don't tell readers that she's sad and he's mad. Show the reader what they do. Worst of all, don't do both!",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
190,
205
]
],
"ref": "2015 October 21, Dana Barbuto, “Review: Aaron Sorkin makes ‘Steve Jobs’ work”, in Northwest Herald:",
"text": "In “Steve Jobs,” Oscar-winning writer Aaron Sorkin “Sorkins” the hell out of an unconventional adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography by daring to break the cardinal rule of show don’t tell.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Advice to writers: convey an impression by the way that events are described in the narrative, and not by explicitly stating facts."
],
"links": [
[
"writer",
"writer"
],
[
"convey",
"convey"
],
[
"impression",
"impression"
],
[
"event",
"event"
],
[
"describe",
"describe"
],
[
"narrative",
"narrative"
],
[
"explicit",
"explicit"
],
[
"stating",
"state"
],
[
"fact",
"fact"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ʃəʊ dəʊnt tɛl/"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "لا تفصح، بل أبد"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "toon, in plaats van te vertellen"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "montru, ne rakontu"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "montre, ne dis pas"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostrar, non contar"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "zeigen, nicht erzählen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostra, non raccontare"
},
{
"code": "fa",
"lang": "Persian",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "نشان دهید، نگویید"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "pokazyvaj, a ne rasskazyvaj",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "показывай, а не рассказывай"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "Advice",
"word": "mostrar, no contar"
}
],
"word": "show, don't tell"
}
Download raw JSONL data for show, don't tell meaning in English (3.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (c3cc510 and 1d3fdbf). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.