Meaning & use
suss out
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Meanings
phrasephrasal verb
To work out the truth about something or someone by watching, asking or thinking carefully.
Grammar: Takes an object, which can go in the middle: suss it out.
Patterns
- suss out something
- suss something out
It took me a week to suss out how the heating system worked.
She quickly sussed out that her new boss was easygoing.
Let's suss out the competition before we set our prices.
phrasephrasal verb
To find out someone's real feelings or plans, usually without asking directly.
Grammar: Often takes a person as object: suss someone out.
Patterns
- suss someone out
He tried to suss out whether she planned to quit.
The new coach spent the first week sussing out his players.
I need to suss out the neighbors before I ask about the fence.
Word forms
| third person singular | susses out |
|---|---|
| past tense | sussed out |
| past participle | sussed out |
| -ing form | sussing out |
Common combinations
- suss out the problem
- We managed to suss out the problem with the router.
- suss someone out
- I'm still trying to suss her out.
- suss out the situation
- He arrived early to suss out the situation.
- quickly suss out
- She quickly sussed out the rules of the game.
- suss out the competition
- Our job is to suss out the competition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- figure out
- Figure out is the usual American equivalent and is neutral in tone.
- work out
- Work out suggests reasoning through a problem step by step.
- size up
- Size up means judging a person or situation quickly, and it is mostly used for people.
- fathom
- Fathom is more formal and suggests understanding something deep or puzzling.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: suss out or sus?
suss out vs sus
Sus is slang for suspicious, as in that looks a bit sus; suss out means to work something out.
Practice
I spent the weekend trying to ___ how the new software works.
Choose one answer.
Suss out means to work something out by thinking or experimenting. Sit out means to wait through an event or skip it, so it does not match learning software.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “suss out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.