ENGLISH
REFERENCE

sucking

v.
A2 Elementary US //ˈsəkɪŋ// UK //sˈʌkɪŋ// suck·ing Archaic

v. to pull liquid or air into your mouth using your lips and tongue. You might do this when drinking through a straw or eating a piece of candy.

v. drawing liquid, air, or an object into the mouth by creating a vacuum through the motion of the lips and tongue. Often used in a continuous form to describe a habitual or ongoing action.


SIMPLE

The baby is sucking on a pacifier.

CONTEXTUAL

The child sat quietly on the porch, sucking a cold juice box through a plastic straw to beat the summer heat.

COMPLEX

By sucking the venom from the wound, the protagonist in the film demonstrated a classic, though medically discouraged, response to a snake bite.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive when taking an object like 'a straw' or 'a sweet', but often functions intransitively with the preposition 'on'.

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