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sucker

[ suhk-er ]
/ ˈsʌk ər /
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See synonyms for: sucker / suckered / suckering on Thesaurus.com

noun
verb (used with object)
Slang. to make a sucker of; fool; hoodwink: another person suckered by a con artist.
verb (used without object)
to send out suckers or shoots, as a plant.
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Origin of sucker

1350–1400; 1835–45 for def. 2; Middle English; see suck, -er1

OTHER WORDS FROM sucker

suck·er·like, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH sucker

succor, sucker
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sucker in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sucker

sucker
/ (ˈsʌkə) /

noun
verb
(tr) to strip off the suckers from (a plant)
(intr) (of a plant) to produce suckers
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for sucker

sucker
[ sŭkər ]

A part by which an animal sucks blood from or uses suction to cling to another animal. Leeches and remoras have suckers.
A shoot growing from the base or root of a tree or shrub and giving rise to a new plant, a clone of the plant from which it comes. The growth of suckers is a form of asexual reproduction.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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