suss out

idiom

British, informal

: to find or discover (something) by thinking

They had to suss out whether he was telling the truth.

I'm trying to suss him out. What kind of person is he?

I think I've got him sussed out.

: to inspect or investigate (something) in order to gain more knowledge

He carefully sussed out the situation.

Examples of suss out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Experts have some ways to suss out whether or not a job posting is real. —

Alena Botros, Fortune, 26 June 2024 To make that determination, the SSA relies on a jobs database to suss out if there are any jobs the applicant can still perform. —

Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 24 June 2024 Indeed, these days, anyone can suss out with a simple Google search how tricks are done. —

Vanessa Armstrong, The Atlantic, 17 June 2024 Cornered in an outhouse with the Captain, the General suspects there must be a spy who’s sowing discontent among the refugees and orders the Captain to suss out the culprit. —

Terry Nguyen, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2024 Alongside its positive findings on the short-term effects of MDMA, Lykos presented data from a follow-up observational study intended to suss out the staying power of the treatment. —

Will Stone, NPR, 4 June 2024 How the trial will unfold The trial will start with jury selection, a days- or weekslong process in which both sides will try to suss out potential personal agendas towards Trump. —

Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2024 That’s not the only way to suss out how to best support them. —

Anna Borges, SELF, 27 Mar. 2024 In order to complete the level, players will have to suss out the proper order of hitting switches or negotiate an intricate obstacle. —

Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'suss out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.