Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

suck up

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.41 in modern English

Syllables: suck- up
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To absorb (fluid).

Transitive verb

verb

To adulate or flatter (someone) excessively, generally to obtain some personal benefit or favour.

Slang

verb

To fellate (someone).

Slang

Example Sentences

"The dry soil sucked up water like a sponge."
"Jimmy sucked up to the English teacher hoping he would get an A."
"And in between sips of Coke / He told me that he thought we were sellin' out / Layin' down, suckin' up to the man / Well now I've got some / Advice for you, little buddy / Before you point the finger / You should know that I'm the man / I'm the man and you're the man / And he's the man as well"

Usage

Inflected Forms

sucks up (present, singular) sucking up (participle, present) sucked up (participle, past) sucked up (past)

Frequently Paired Words

crawl creep grovel sycophant sycophantic

Synonyms

brownnose butter up kiss up apple-polish bootlick bow and scrape dickride duchess fawn fawn over fellate flannel

Antonyms

answer back argue bully disobey dominate domineer persevere sass stand one's ground talk back

Questions

What does suck up mean?: To absorb (fluid).

How to pronounce suck up

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “suck up”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “suck up”.
Repeat and practice — Say “suck up” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.