Meanings
present singular third person sucks it up · participle present sucking it up · participle past sucked it up · past sucked it up
- idiomaticslangTo put up with something; to deal with something, such as pain or misfortune, without complaining.
Some students suck it up and meet the challenge. Others look around wildly for someone to blame.
2001 January 8, Ben Marcus, “Graded By My Students”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2012Synonyms: be a man, deal with it, grin and bear it, lump it, man up, push through it, save the drama for your mama, take it like a man
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo put up with something; to deal with something, such as pain or misfortune, without complaining.
Origin
Probably a variation of the expression suck up your chest, meaning roughly compose yourself, bear your troubles, stand tall, and proceed.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kestää, sietää
- kestääto put up with
- sietääto put up with
French prendre sur soi
- prendre sur soito put up with
Polish zaciskać zęby, zacisnąć zęby
- zaciskać zębyto put up with
- zacisnąć zębyto put up with
Cite this entry
suck it up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suck%20it%20up
“suck it up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suck%20it%20up. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “suck it up,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suck%20it%20up.
Source: suck it up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.