"tell the truth" meaning in English

See tell the truth in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Audio: En-au-tell the truth.ogg
Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} tell the truth
  1. (idiomatic, informal) Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to "to tell the truth". Tags: idiomatic, informal Synonyms (asserting frank honesty of statement): frankly, honestly, tell you the truth Related terms: tell the truth and shame the devil, tell you the truth Translations (asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement): ἀληθεύω (alētheúō) (Ancient Greek), 老實說 (Chinese Mandarin), 老实说 (lǎoshíshuō) (Chinese Mandarin), totta puhuen (Finnish), pour être honnête (French), az igazat megvallva (Hungarian), őszintén szólva (Hungarian), igazság szerint (Hungarian), az az igazság, hogy (Hungarian), че́стно говоря́ (čéstno govorjá) (Russian), decir la verdad (Spanish), ärligt talat (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-tell_the_truth-en-phrase-~NzsuSVW Categories (other): English discourse markers, English entries with incorrect language header, English predicates, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Ancient Greek translations, Terms with Arabic translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English discourse markers: 96 4 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 95 5 Disambiguation of English predicates: 78 22 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 89 11 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 94 6 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 95 5 Disambiguation of Terms with Ancient Greek translations: 87 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Arabic translations: 91 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 89 11 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 88 12 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 89 11

Verb

Audio: En-au-tell the truth.ogg Forms: tells the truth [present, singular, third-person], telling the truth [participle, present], told the truth [participle, past], told the truth [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|tell<,,told> the truth}} tell the truth (third-person singular simple present tells the truth, present participle telling the truth, simple past and past participle told the truth)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tell, truth. Translations (to tell the truth): صَدَقَ (ṣadaqa) (Arabic), igazat mond (Hungarian)
    Sense id: en-tell_the_truth-en-verb-dcnE5JJj
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tells the truth",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "telling the truth",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "told the truth",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "told the truth",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tell<,,told> the truth"
      },
      "expansion": "tell the truth (third-person singular simple present tells the truth, present participle telling the truth, simple past and past participle told the truth)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022 September 26, “Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden”, in Mark Trevelyan, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-09-26, Europe:",
          "text": "That year a U.S. appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tell, truth."
      ],
      "id": "en-tell_the_truth-en-verb-dcnE5JJj",
      "links": [
        [
          "tell",
          "tell#English"
        ],
        [
          "truth",
          "truth#English"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "ṣadaqa",
          "sense": "to tell the truth",
          "word": "صَدَقَ"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to tell the truth",
          "word": "igazat mond"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tell the truth.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell the truth"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "tell the truth",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English discourse markers",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "95 5",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "_dis": "78 22",
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        },
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          "_dis": "89 11",
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          "_dis": "94 6",
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          "_dis": "95 5",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Ancient Greek translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Mike Sirota, Bicycling Through Space and Time:",
          "text": "Then it sneezed. Considering what it was smelling, that was no surprise. Tell the truth, I'd gotten so used to the jof jof dung that I didn't notice it anymore.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to \"to tell the truth\"."
      ],
      "id": "en-tell_the_truth-en-phrase-~NzsuSVW",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to \"to tell the truth\"."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "tell the truth and shame the devil"
        },
        {
          "word": "tell you the truth"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
          "word": "frankly"
        },
        {
          "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
          "word": "honestly"
        },
        {
          "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
          "word": "tell you the truth"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "老實說"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "lǎoshíshuō",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "老实说"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "totta puhuen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "pour être honnête"
        },
        {
          "code": "grc",
          "lang": "Ancient Greek",
          "roman": "alētheúō",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "ἀληθεύω"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "az igazat megvallva"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "őszintén szólva"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "igazság szerint"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "az az igazság, hogy"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "čéstno govorjá",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "че́стно говоря́"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "decir la verdad"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
          "word": "ärligt talat"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tell the truth.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell the truth"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English discourse markers",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "English predicates",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Ancient Greek translations",
    "Terms with Arabic translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tells the truth",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "telling the truth",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "told the truth",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "told the truth",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tell<,,told> the truth"
      },
      "expansion": "tell the truth (third-person singular simple present tells the truth, present participle telling the truth, simple past and past participle told the truth)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022 September 26, “Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden”, in Mark Trevelyan, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-09-26, Europe:",
          "text": "That year a U.S. appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tell, truth."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tell",
          "tell#English"
        ],
        [
          "truth",
          "truth#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-tell the truth.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "ṣadaqa",
      "sense": "to tell the truth",
      "word": "صَدَقَ"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to tell the truth",
      "word": "igazat mond"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell the truth"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English discourse markers",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "English predicates",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Ancient Greek translations",
    "Terms with Arabic translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
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      "expansion": "tell the truth",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "tell the truth and shame the devil"
    },
    {
      "word": "tell you the truth"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Mike Sirota, Bicycling Through Space and Time:",
          "text": "Then it sneezed. Considering what it was smelling, that was no surprise. Tell the truth, I'd gotten so used to the jof jof dung that I didn't notice it anymore.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to \"to tell the truth\"."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to \"to tell the truth\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tell the truth.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/En-au-tell_the_truth.ogg"
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
      "word": "frankly"
    },
    {
      "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
      "word": "honestly"
    },
    {
      "sense": "asserting frank honesty of statement",
      "word": "tell you the truth"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "老實說"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "lǎoshíshuō",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "老实说"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "totta puhuen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "pour être honnête"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "roman": "alētheúō",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "ἀληθεύω"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "az igazat megvallva"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "őszintén szólva"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "igazság szerint"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "az az igazság, hogy"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "čéstno govorjá",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "че́стно говоря́"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "decir la verdad"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "asserting the frank honesty of an associated statement",
      "word": "ärligt talat"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell the truth"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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.