suck (up) 1 of 2

1
2
as in to soak (up)
to take in (something liquid) through small openings these lilacs sucked up all the water I added to the vase yesterday

Synonyms & Similar Words

suck-up

2 of 2

noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of suck (up)
Noun
But the joke’s on us — Republican senators, who are the only players with any real power to stop them, have simply decided not to, all so that President Camacho can play at government with his favorite suck-ups. S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025 Sara Fischer, Dave Lawler Dec 23, 2024 - Politics & Policy Media's suck-up moment Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach. Sara Fischer, Axios, 14 Jan. 2025 To be sure, plenty of companies are still committed to DEI programs, and not all executives are morphing into insufferable suck-ups. Allison Morrow, CNN, 4 Dec. 2024 Back in the dawn of the Trump era — just prior to his 2017 inauguration — the line of would-be suck-ups queuing up for face time with the president-elect included a man with a distinguished name. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2023 Office suck-ups, popularized by television characters like Dwight Schrute in The Office and Tom Wambsgans in Succession, typically take their cues from those in charge. Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023 Still, gossip mongers and suck-ups won’t go away unless managers remove the incentives to such behavior, while rewarding positive actions like collaboration. Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023 As a shameless suck-up with a remarkable ability to fail upward, Tom is on track to conquer the world. Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suck (up)
Verb
  • On top of this, her mother and sister are fussing about her future relationship status, which leads to them plotting some dates for her.
    Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The world saw this five-man group as an ideal of friendship, a community working and living together, fussing and fighting but making rough beauty out of it.
    Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Tonya drinks too much and is blacked out most of the time.
    Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 30 Mar. 2025
  • Currently, more than 200 million Americans, or about 75% of the population, drink fluoridated water.
    Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 29 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Huge fans blow outside air across a liquid that absorbs carbon dioxide molecules.
    David Pogue, CBS News, 23 Mar. 2025
  • The problem that absorbed them takes a key theme in mathematics and turns it into a concrete tool for group theorists.
    Leila Sloman, WIRED, 23 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • What may be worse is that a gaggle of sycophants and groupthink team members underneath the Dark Empath—the direct reports—create a ruthless echo chamber for the king or queen at the top of Mt. Stupid.
    Dan Pontefract, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Of course, Veep’s sycophants, buffoons, and backstabbers bear little resemblance to the vanguard of our latest regime.
    Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • There’s a reason scouts once drooled over Williams’ potential.
    C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Symptoms from scorpion stings — such as burning at the sting site, drooling.
    Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 3 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelenskyy while Russian leaders rejoiced.
    Maureen Dowd, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Of course, being a junior senator and attaching your name to legislation that has little chance of being enacted—none of those have bills passed—is very different from being Vice-President and chief lickspittle to Trump.
    John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024
Verb
  • Meanwhile, other sources have pointed to the belief that Johnson’s background in progressive organizing repels him from anything that looks like kowtowing.
    Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2025
  • Under that system, countries acknowledged the cultural and political superiority of China and expressed deference to Chinese authority—including literally kowtowing before the Chinese emperor in order to trade with China.
    Elizabeth Economy, Foreign Affairs, 13 June 2017
Noun
  • As of this writing, tens of thousands of Americans in government roles have already been fired by Elon’s tech toadies.
    Kara Swisher, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2025
  • But at the end of the Cold War, state sponsors and their toadies lost ground.
    Audrey Kurth Cronin, Foreign Affairs, 21 Dec. 2011

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Cite this Entry

“Suck (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suck%20%28up%29. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.

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