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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For Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 Don Siegel drama, Farrell took on a role originally played by Clint Eastwood, as the wounded Union soldier who is sheltered and nursed by a group of young women in a seminary in Confederate Virginia.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
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Many years have passed since nursing home patients lived in the Redlands Road building, the obscure permit on which the occupancy rested has lapsed.—
Lou Murray,
Boston Herald,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Later in the memoir, however, Federline makes some pretty serious claims about Spears drinking while pregnant and breastfeeding her kids while drinking and doing drugs.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
20 Oct. 2025
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Like so many new mothers, Danielle said the early weeks of breastfeeding were filled with uncertainty and self-doubt.—
Daniella Gray,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Suckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suckle. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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