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🔍 To figure out 🕵️ Suspicious 🤫 Inside knowledge
to suss

to suss

14 8.4
To find out what is happening by looking for facts and clues
  • verb
  • /sʌs/
  • UK
: averiguar
  • He used his keen observation skills to suss out the truth behind the mystery.
  • suss out the situation
  • got it sussed
  • trying to suss

So you'll, you know, you suss that out in the moment, but that's in general how that works.

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Examples

  • Instead, we're all trying to suss each other out in the relationship economy.

    Blog text (21)

  • In the meantime, you have approximateIy 17 hours to suss out what Mr. Pratt is about to hand you.

    Imagine That (2009)

  • But how do you even suss out who is at least sort of providing better evidence?

    The Financial Diet

  • Come on, we can suss it out before the others get here, huh?

    Soul Reaper (2019)

  • Before a dude does this, he has to suss out the body language, which is obvious and easy to do.

    Blog text (26)

  • I guess I'm trying to suss out the extent of, or depth of the term "friend."

    Blog text (10)

  • We're gonna try and suss out who is the imposter who has the bad dream.

  • It's nice that you're able to kind of suss out what's going on before someone asks you.

    Variety

  • Libraries often go to great pains to suss out what the community wants; letting us know directly is great.

    Blog text (26)

  • I hadn't seen the syntax before, but I could sort of suss out what was going on.

    Blog text (14)

Synonyms

to figure out
vsto suss
  • Informal
∞ 2.2

To think about something and find an answer or understand it

also uses observation and clue finding, not only thought
to investigate
vsto suss
∞ 2.8

To look carefully at something to find facts

is more informal and uses thinking and clue finding rather than formal study
to get to the bottom of
vsto suss
137 3.9

Find the real reason for a problem by checking carefully

while the other can be quicker and rely on clues
to probe
vsto suss
  • Literature
35 5.1

To ask careful questions to find hidden information

relies more on thinking and looking for clues than on formal questioning
to ferret out
vsto suss
  • Informal
13 6.7

To search carefully to find hidden facts or documents

can be less persistent and use quick clue gathering instead of long searching
to suss out
vsto suss
  • UK
8 8.2

To find out what is really happening

is the base verb form without the particle and same meaning
to search for answers
vsto suss
8 3.0

To look for information or a solution to a problem

is more specific and clue focused rather than broadly looking
to puzzle out
vsto suss
4 4.4

To think hard to find the answer to a difficult problem

is broader and can include searching for clues, not only hard thought
to suss the situation
vsto suss
  • UK
1 7.9

Work out what is happening in a situation by looking and thinking

is used for general investigating, not limited to one situation

Phrasal Verbs

to suss out
  • UK
8 8.2

To find out what is really happening

to suss the situation
  • UK
1 7.9

Work out what is happening in a situation by looking and thinking

How Careful

to analyze
  • US
675 3.2
to investigate
∞ 2.8
to examine
868 2.5
to suss
  • UK
14 8.4
to speculate
254 4.8
to guess
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

suss infinitive
sussed past
sussed past participle
sussing present participle
susses third person singular

Etymology

Suss as a verb likely comes from people shortening suspect or the phrase suss out, meaning 'to find out' or 'investigate', and a helpful way to remember it is to think of 'suss out' as 'looking for clues'. So, to suss something is to investigate or figure it out.