all told
With everything included, counted, or summed; in total.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“All told, we have ten people coming to the party.”
“The repairs took three days and cost five hundred dollars, all told.”
“All told, the expedition spanned six months, covered three continents, and resulted in several significant archaeological discoveries.”
From *all* + *told*, in which the latter word preserves the now archaic sense of the verb *tell* meaning to count. It is a survival of the original usage found in Middle English, where the act of narration and the act of enumeration were not yet distinct functions.
- 01
a little bird told me
I received the information from a source which I am not prepared to disclose.
- 02
don't tell me
Used to introduce a guess at a fact or situation, as if forestalling the other speaker's utterance.
- 03
I can tell you
Emphasises the truth of a statement.
- 04
I tell a lie
I am mistaken; I thought that what I said (or wrote) was true, but I have just realised that it is not.
- 05
I tell you
Synonym of I can tell you.
- 06
I'll tell you
Synonym of I can tell you.
- 07
kiss and tell
To betray a confidence by disclosing private information, especially of a sexual nature.
- 08
let me tell you
Synonym of I can tell you.
Last updated August 10, 2026