Meaning & use
sus
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivenot comparableinformalslang
Seeming dishonest, suspicious, or not to be trusted.
Grammar: Usually not used with 'more' or 'most'; it describes a quality, not a degree.
Patterns
- be sus
- look sus
- something is sus
That guy is acting sus; he keeps looking around.
The email looked sus, so I didn't click the link.
Why are you being so sus about where you were last night?
Common combinations
- feel sus
- I don't know why, but this deal feels sus.
- look sus
- The car looked sus, with one door missing.
- act sus
- He started acting sus when the teacher walked in.
- a bit sus
- Her explanation was a bit sus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- suspicious
- Standard and more formal; 'sus' is slang and mostly used in casual speech or online.
- shady
- Informal too, but often suggests someone is actually involved in something illegal or dishonest.
- dodgy
- British informal; similar meaning but not as trendy or internet-based.
Opposites
Word family
- suspicious adjective
- The standard word for feeling or causing distrust.
- suspicion noun
- A feeling that something is wrong or someone is guilty.
Commonly confused: sus or suss?
sus vs suss
In British English, 'suss' (with double s) is a verb meaning to figure something out, as in 'suss out the situation'. 'Sus' is the adjective.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'sus' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Sus' is an adjective meaning suspicious or untrustworthy, so 'looked sus' fits. Option 1 uses it as a noun; option 3 uses it as a verb (which is 'suss'); option 4 is illogical because 'sus' implies distrust, not agreement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.