suss out

present singular third person susses out · participle present sussing out · participle past sussed out · past sussed out

1. colloquialtransitiveTo come to understand (a person).

   We've sussed him out—he only drinks on Fridays and only in that bar in town.

   1 more example

   In essence, security experts most familiar with this breach believe that a nation-state — likely China or Russia — stole the data in order to suss out current spies and pick out potential targets they could recruit as spies.

   2019 March 19, Mike McKee, “The Case of the Missing Data”, in Dark Reading, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2022

2. colloquialtransitiveTo manage to work (something) out, to discover or determine (something).

   We've sussed out how to open the lock.

   2 more examples

   You sussed it out, didn't you?

   1997, “Hunter”, in Homogenic, performed by Björk

   As far as electric cars are concerned, motorists have sussed out that they do not make particularly good financial sense, even with a $7,500 handout from the federal government.

   2012 April 20, “Electric cars: Difference Engine: Tailpipe truths”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2024