sus meaning (informal): definition, etymology and quotations

sus

noun

/sʌs/ · Northern-England /sʊs/

Etymology Clipping of suspicion. Compare suss out, suss.

UK, Informal Suspicion (in terms of a sus law).

The committee […] said ‘sus’ had acquired a symbolic significance out of all proportion to its significance as a criminal charge.2002, Simon James, British Government: A Reader in Policy Making, page 84:

sus

adj

Etymology Clipping of suspicious.

Suspicious; having suspicions or questions.

Even my lame psychic ability told me he'd be pretty sus if he found me pissing on in the lounge room on a week night.2010, Olwyn Conrau, The Importance of Being Cool, Carindale: Glass House Brooks, page 134:
Everyone had been a bit sus about Mrs Jones and Lana Vilenskaya, so it wasn't surprising that Mrs Jones stood to speak.2015, Peter King, The Weaving, Wellington: Peter King Publishing:

1 more example

I'm still really sus about those crocs we found in the drains.2018, Ron Chinchen, Scent of the Beast, Bloomington: Xlibris:

Suspicious; raising or causing people to have suspicions.

Why this should be I will never know except I might be a pretty sus looking geezer or something. They took about six of us who were in the cafe down the nick and dubbed us up in separate peters. After a long while these two bogies came into ...1972, Frank Norman, The lives of Frank Norman: told in extracts from his autobiographical books Banana boy, Stand on me, Bang to rights, The guntz:

Humorous, Often Acting in a borderline sexually inappropriate way, causing others to "suspect" them of being sexually attracted to someone and trying to hide it.

That guy is always acting sus with the boys—are you sure he's not gay?
I was acting sus with my friend turns out he's gay I don't think he was joking2021 September 9, @COGxCam, Twitter, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2023:

4 more examples

Maybe I’m a sus hetero bro who's been subtly abusive and deserves to be blocked out entirely.2022, Sean Thor Conroe, Fuccboi, Hachette, →ISBN:
Gf [30] was acting sus around another guy and not sure If im [M20] just overthinking it.2022 October 31, u/Keggerbev, “(post title)”, in Reddit, r/Advice, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2023:
I've also heard many instances of him acting sus with girls.2023 March 9, u/rainbows_are_a_mess, “The Bombay Movie Club”, in Reddit, r/mumbai, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2023:
Totally not being sus with my controller2023 August 6, @bridaaah, Twitter, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2023:

Derived terms: susly, sussy
Related terms: ayo

sus

verb

Etymology Clipping of suspend.

Internet To suspend an account on social media (almost exclusively Twitter/X).

yeah, the account posting offensive stuff got sussed.

sus

intj

Internet, Humorous, Nonce word A nonsense word commonly used in YouTube Poop by playing an audio clip forward and in reverse consecutively; said in reference to this editing style, and to describe palindromes and humorously symmetrized images.

You better fuf, and then you better broob, 'cause if you don't broob, you're nothing but a nothing, and then the nothing becomes a nothing, and then your nothing is a joj, and then your nothing is sus […]2019 June 11, Alfred Coleman III, “Minecraft w/ PaperBoxHouse #2”, in YouTube:
ViV [video in video], lagging or stuttering images to get figures to say nonsense words (“SuS”), became popular. […] What appears as chaos, nonsense, or distortion to someone outside the subculture turns out to be a set of references added on as layers and layers of images. Using rapid forward reverse and word-splice editing to make someone else’s project lag or getting a character to say “SuS” or “JoJ” becomes a form of legible code that has a multiplicity of possible orders.[2021, Randall Halle, “Cine-Cognition: Collage, Fragmentation, Integration” (chapter 6), in Visual Alterity: Seeing Difference in Cinema, →ISBN, pages 94–95:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.