Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To infer or discover; figure. Often used with out:
  • transitive verb To size up; study. Often used with out:

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A variant of soss.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand To discover, infer or figure out.
  • verb transitive, UK, New Zealand To study or size up, to check out (examine).
  • noun UK Social nous.
  • adjective UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial Suspicious.
  • noun UK Suspicious behaviour; the act of loitering with intent.
  • verb transitive, UK, obsolete To arrest for suspicious behaviour.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably short for suspect.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From suspect; originally suss out ("to investigate").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From suspicious.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word suss.

Examples

  • Sometimes it's even people you're working with - but you kind of suss out which ones are the baby demons.

    Tori Amos - Undented 2009

  • It helps if you can "suss" out the academic culture and get a feel for what things are like in that person's office, etc.

    One Bright Star (1B*) Reignited 2007

  • What you see here are some fun drawings done in charcoal, which I love doing, that just kind of suss out the directions of the art.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Zillabob 2007

  • What you see here are some fun drawings done in charcoal, which I love doing, that just kind of suss out the directions of the art.

    Musings...Drawings... Zillabob 2007

  • The Portuguese are paying 1. 75% more than the Germans and indicates that the markets see them as less 'suss' to lend to nowadays.

    Latest News - Yahoo!7 News 2010

  • Education and learning You know if someone's a bit 'suss', they're a bit suspicious, right? what about when you

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories 2009

  • During oral arguments, justices tried to suss out whether attorneys believed the court was ruling on behalf of all districts in the state—or just the 31 so-called former Abbott districts identified over the years as being poor, highly taxed, failing and/or serving a large population of students who need extra resources.

    Court Decision Could Upend N.J. Schools Lisa Fleisher 2011

  • That information will help you suss out how capable she is of handling all the responsibilities on her plate.

    Ten Questions You'd Better Ask Your Boss Susan Adams 2011

  • Can they suss out a good song if their ears are bleeding?

    Kara DioGuardi on Platinum Hit's Bad Singing Problem, Plans for More Post-Idol TV 2011

  • Bonus points if you can suss out the rather strained relationship between the man pictured to the events on this episode.

    Shocked : Bev Vincent 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "But the truth was out for all to see long before the big-name take-downs. For months sourcewatch.org has identified Martin Eisenstadt as a hoax. When Mr. Stein was the victim, he blogged that “there was enough info on the Web that I should have sussed this thing out.�?

    --NY Times story about an internet hoax.

    November 17, 2008

  • Also made popular by the Radiohead song, "High and Dry"

    not really used in my neighborhood

    April 22, 2009