suckle
Americanverb (used with object)
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suckles,
present (3rd person singular)
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suckled,
past participle, past
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suckling
present participle
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to nurse at the breast or udder.
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to nourish or bring up.
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to put to suck.
verb (used without object)
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suckles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
suckled,
past participle, past
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suckling
present participle
verb
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to give (a baby or young animal) milk from the breast or (of a baby, etc) to suck milk from the breast
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(tr) to bring up; nurture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sucklesimple
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sucklessimple
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have suckledperfect
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has suckledperfect
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am sucklingprogressive
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are sucklingprogressive
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is sucklingprogressive
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have been sucklingperfect progressive
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has been sucklingperfect progressive
Past
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suckledsimple
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had suckledperfect
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was sucklingprogressive
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were sucklingprogressive
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had been sucklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of suckle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mazakpwe cited a range of lactation issues mothers can face, from sore nipples to babies born too sick or too weak to suckle and stimulate milk production.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2024
On Thursday morning, she tried to get her 9-month-old daughter to suckle.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 21, 2022
Meanwhile, Love Shaiska was struggling to suckle, forcing her parents to pull together cash to buy formula.
From Reuters ● Aug. 23, 2021
There was no guarantee that the other mothers would protect Lucy, much less allow her to suckle, as that would mean fewer precious nutrients for their own calves.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 20, 2021
They would suckle their cubs and sometimes bring back a large bone or a whole head from a kill.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
President Volodymyr Zelensky has been heeding a wise Ukrainian proverb: A gentle calf suckles two mothers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
It is named for the she-wolf who suckles twin boys in Rome’s origin myth.
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2020
As the baby suckles at the breast, it picks up more microbes from its mother’s skin.
From Nature ● Mar. 6, 2018
When the infant suckles, sensory nerve fibers in the areola trigger a neuroendocrine reflex that results in milk secretion from lactocytes into the alveoli.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
The creature of which we were in search is amphibious, and suckles its young like the whale.
From The Wanderers Adventures in the Wilds of Trinidad and Orinoco by Perat
The other two are named Romulus and Remus, after the mythical founders of Rome said to have been suckled by a she-wolf as infants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
“There is no food or water. Sometimes I have nothing to give the kids,” she said as her 14-month-old suckled on her deflated breast.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
I watched as a ewe suckled two lambs that she had adopted in this way.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2024
They were discovered by a female wolf and suckled by her, eventually growing up and exacting their revenge on their treacherous uncle.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
"As a babe I suckled on icicles, boy. I like the cold."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
There’s only so much suckling pig and paella one could handle, so I found myself seeking the finest examples of tomato bread, city by city.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025
But a pregnant or suckling female is especially ravenous and will continue to forage for two for up to 1 year after giving birth.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2024
In 2015, a research team from two U.S. universities tested tunes incorporating feline-centric sounds that included purring and a pulse reminiscent of suckling.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 2, 2024
Run by JM Nixon and Son, the farm had 140 suckling beef cattle as well as several holiday cottages and a riding school.
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2023
Then came quails in honey, a saddle of lamb, goose livers drowned in wine, buttered parsnips, and suckling pig.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
