Instruct
Mutual synonyms
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- Parodied on Chuck, where Chuck tries to instruct Captain Awesome on the lie to tell to his wife about where he's been all night.
Source: Miming the Cues - The scene also averts No Periods, Period by having Olga tell Anton that he's lucky this isn't happening a few weeks later, or she'd have to instruct him on the use of tampons.
Source: Freaky Friday Flip / Literature -
And then there's the series-spanning Running Gag wherein Lord Vetinari will instruct someone, "Look out the window and tell me what you see," only to have problems, such as someone who comically misses the point ("a dog watching a man take a leak in an alley"), or uncooperative weather ("Fog.")
Source: Failed Attempt at Drama
Cite this Source
Tell and Instruct. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/instruct/tell
Instruct & Tell. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/instruct/tell>.
Tell or Instruct. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/instruct/tell.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "instruct" and "tell" have occurred on timeline