Require
Require verb - Make someone do something.
Tell
Tell verb - To issue orders to (someone) by right of authority.
Usage example: told us to sit still and wait
Require is a synonym for tell in communicate topic. Sometimes you can use "Require" instead a verb "Tell", if it concerns topics such as instruct.
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- Though, so far as we can tell developing the technologies to refine carbon and silicon into substitutes for metal would require metal.
Source: Metal Poor Planet -
When Ginoza and Kougami tell Yayoi they require a nose like hers in their investigation, she compares Enforcers to dogs, since they're bound to an Inspector in order to avoid rehab or execution.
Source: Anime / Psycho-Pass - Nutt finally gets in touch with his orcish nature, he's able to tell an opponent he's got in a headlock just how much force it would require to rip his head off, and what muscles and bones would get in the way.
Source: Badass Bookworm / Literature
Cite this Source
Tell and Require. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/require/tell
Require & Tell. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/require/tell>.
Tell or Require. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/require/tell.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "require" and "tell" have occurred on timeline