as in to nurse
to give milk to from the breast
the image of a mother suckling her babe is a standard artistic symbol of maternal love and nurturing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of suckle
What are the neurons that make muscles ache and fatigue, or trigger migraines, or cause milk to flow in a mother’s breast when her baby suckles?
—
Ariel Bleicher, Quanta Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
The older pair are named Romulus and Remus after the mythological founders of Rome, who are traditionally depicted as being suckled by a she-wolf.
—Jon Schlosberg, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2025
Avoiding them is all but impossible in a world where water supplies are tainted and babies suckle on plastic bottles from their earliest days on earth.
—Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 13 Feb. 2025
Joan jumped on her leg in an attempt to get some and started to suckle the cheese.
—Nina Turner, Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for suckle
Ariel Bleicher, Quanta Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
The older pair are named Romulus and Remus after the mythological founders of Rome, who are traditionally depicted as being suckled by a she-wolf.
—Jon Schlosberg, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2025
Avoiding them is all but impossible in a world where water supplies are tainted and babies suckle on plastic bottles from their earliest days on earth.
—Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 13 Feb. 2025
Joan jumped on her leg in an attempt to get some and started to suckle the cheese.
—Nina Turner, Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for suckle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suckle
Verb
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Rypien started for the Rams for one game in Green Bay with Stafford nursing a thumb injury in 2023.—
Jourdan Rodrigue,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
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Much of the audience is clearly children, the Gen Alpha tweens nursed on Cocomelon and Baby Shark hi-jinks.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Part of that frustration and anxiety in breastfeeding can be attributed to all the different changes that a mom's body goes through, both during pregnancy and postpartum.—
Hannah Sacks,
People.com,
26 Aug. 2025
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Pregnant and breastfeeding people should also be cautious since there isn’t enough data on how cloves or clove oil may affect them.—
Caitlin Pagán,
Verywell Health,
26 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Suckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suckle. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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