Steups

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The sound made by sucking one's teeth. Caribbean, dialectal, onomatopoeic

    "A loud steups followed."

Verb
  1. 1
    To suck one's teeth, indicating disappointment, derision or disgust. Caribbean, Jamaica, dialectal, onomatopoeic

    "‘Here?’ Petronella steups. ‘Where you think here is?’"

Synonyms

All synonyms
kiss one's teethsuck one's teeth

Example

More examples

"He thought he heard a loud steups somewhere from the dark."

Etymology

Imitative of the act of sucking one's teeth as a gesture of annoyance or disapproval. Native to the English-speaking West Indies, e.g. Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago etc. In Jamaica, the term "kissing teeth" is used instead.

More for "steups"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.