telltale

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Clearly revealing something, often something meant to be hidden.

   The dirty footprints were a telltale sign that someone had been inside.

2. 2
   noun

   Something that reveals or gives away a hidden fact.

   The lipstick on his collar was the telltale that gave him away.

3. 3
   noun

   A person who reports others' secrets or misbehaviour to get them in trouble.

   Nobody trusted him because he was known as a telltale.

From tell + tale, perhaps dissimilated from earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere (literally “tale teller”).

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