sucker

1 of 2

noun

suck·​er ˈsə-kər How to pronounce sucker (audio)
1
a
: one that sucks especially a breast or udder : suckling
b
: a device for creating or regulating suction (such as a piston or valve in a pump)
c
: a pipe or tube through which something is drawn by suction
d(1)
: an organ in various animals for adhering or holding
(2)
: a mouth (as of a leech) adapted for sucking or adhering
2
: a shoot from the roots or lower part of the stem of a plant
3
: any of numerous chiefly North American freshwater bony fishes (family Catostomidae) closely related to the carps but distinguished from them especially by the structure of the mouth which usually has thick soft lips compare hog sucker, white sucker
4
5
a
: a person easily cheated or deceived
b
: a person irresistibly attracted by something specified
a sucker for ghost stories
c
used as a generalized term of reference
see if you can get that sucker working again

sucker

2 of 2

verb

suckered; suckering ˈsə-k(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce sucker (audio)

transitive verb

1
: to remove suckers from
sucker tobacco
2

intransitive verb

: to send out suckers
corn suckers abundantly

Examples of sucker in a Sentence

Noun He's just a con artist looking for another sucker. That kid is a mean little sucker. Verb a notorious imposter who at one time suckered a lot of people into believing that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia suckered millions of desperate dieters with their grossly inflated claims of successful weight loss
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Because the American right was so quick to extol foreign dictators in hyperbolic terms, its members were frequently treated like suckers by those regimes. Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2024 To maintain a tree-form, establish a single trunk and remove suckers at the base. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 19 Feb. 2024 Black horse-braid knots ran up and down her arms like the suckers of a cephalopod, or spikes of armor. Leah Dolan, CNN, 9 Feb. 2024 There are also chocolate suckers available in a variety of shapes for $2 to $3 each. Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2024 Yet, for employees, being played for a sucker is hardly good fun. Nate Bennett, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024 Mackinaws feed almost exclusively on smaller fish like perch, chubs, suckers and other trout. Jordan Rodriguez, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024 From simple suckers like the Roborock’s Q5 Pro that will best pet hair, to the all-singing, all-mopping DreameBot L20 Ultra, the prices are falling as hard as these robots can suck up dirt. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 24 Nov. 2023 Las Vegas—a place whose economy depends on people who realize that gambling is for suckers but who strut into the casino all the same—knows better. Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
Verb
The Celtics – losers of four of their last five games and 10 of 15 – have been playing an annoying brand of basketball lately, the kind that makes a fan want to sucker-punch the panic button and trade everyone whose first name doesn’t begin with J for Andre Drummond. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Feb. 2021 Despite the emails, despite Ivanka’s ludicrous public lies in order to sucker new buyers, then–District Attorney Cyrus Vance axed the investigation—a move that just happened to coincide with a substantial donation to his office from none other than Donald Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz. Casey Michel, The New Republic, 30 Sep. 2020 Some guy walks out of nowhere and sucker punches you. Billy Kobin, The Courier-Journal, 13 Dec. 2022 The focus has mainly been on spam bots that harass users or try to sucker them into scams, often related to cryptocurrency. Tim Fernholz, Quartz, 19 Sep. 2022 Not every Nicolas Cage fan would sucker the iconoclastic star into going to a desert island under false pretenses, however, which is the premise behind The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the meta-comedy that hits theaters on April 22nd. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2022 Maybe promising deets on Travis -- and then killing him -- was a way to sucker Nat in and then untether her from one of the few living people who loved her. Scottie Andrew, CNN, 16 Jan. 2022 In November 2020, malefactors in charge of the Egregor ransomware used an extremely offbeat trick to sucker-punch their victim, a Chilean retail giant called Cencosud. David Balaban, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021 Poplars are fast-growing, unhealthy trees that often sucker profusely in lawns. Howard Garrett, Dallas News, 20 Sep. 2021

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

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1607, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of sucker was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near sucker

Cite this Entry

“Sucker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sucker. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

sucker

noun
suck·​er
ˈsək-ər
1
a
: one that sucks
b
: a part of an animal's body used for sucking or for clinging by suction
2
: a shoot from the roots or lower part of the stem of a plant
3
: any of numerous freshwater fishes related to the carps that usually have thick soft lips for sucking in food
4
5
: a person easily fooled or cheated
6
: a person irresistibly attracted to something
a sucker for historical novels

Medical Definition

sucker

noun
suck·​er ˈsək-ər How to pronounce sucker (audio)
1
: an organ in various animals (as a trematode or tapeworm) used for adhering or holding
2
: a mouth (as of a leech) adapted for sucking or adhering

More from Merriam-Webster on sucker

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