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Webster 1913 Edition


Suspicion

Sus-pi′cion

,
Noun.
[OE.
suspecioun
, OF.
souspeçon
, F.
soupçon
, L.
suspectio
a looking up to, an esteeming highly, suspicion, fr.
suspicere
to look up, to esteem, to mistrust. The modern form
suspicion
in English and French is in imitation of L.
suspicio
mistrust, suspicion. See
Suspect
, and cf.
Suspicious
.]
1.
The act of suspecting; the imagination or apprehension of the existence of something (esp. something wrong or hurtful) without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or upon no evidence.
Suspicions
among thoughts are like bats among birds, they ever fly by twilight.
Bacon.
2.
Slight degree; suggestion; hint.
[Colloq.]
The features are mild but expressive, with just a
suspicion
. . . of saturnine or sarcastic humor.
A. W. Ward.
Syn. – Jealousy; distrust; mistrust; diffidence; doubt.

Sus-pi′cion

,
Verb.
T.
To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt.
[Obs. or Low]
South.

Webster 1828 Edition


Suspicion

SUSPI'CION

,
Noun.
[L. suspicio. See Suspect.] The act of suspecting; the imagination of the existence of something without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or upon no evidence at all. Suspicion often proceeds from the apprehension of evil; it is the offspring or companion of jealousy.
Suspicions among thoughts, are like bats among birds; they ever fly by twilight.

Definition 2024


suspicion

suspicion

English

Alternative forms

Noun

suspicion (plural suspicions)

  1. The act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong.
  2. The condition of being suspected.
  3. Uncertainty, doubt.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter III:
      In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. [] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
  4. A trace, or slight indication.
    a suspicion of a smile
    • Adolphus William Ward (1837-1924)
      The features are mild but expressive, with just a suspicion [] of saturnine or sarcastic humor.
  5. The imagining of something without evidence.

Derived terms

Translations

Trivia

One of three common words ending in -cion, which are coercion, scion, and suspicion.[1][2]

References

  1. Notes and Queries, Vol. VI, No. 10, 1889, October, p. 365
  2. Editor and Publisher, Volume 9, 1909, p. 89

Verb

suspicion (third-person singular simple present suspicions, present participle suspicioning, simple past and past participle suspicioned)

  1. (nonstandard, dialect) To suspect; to have suspicions.
    • Rudyard Kipling
      Mulvaney continued— "Whin I was full awake the palanquin was set down in a street, I suspicioned, for I cud hear people passin' an' talkin'. But I knew well I was far from home. []
    • 2012, B. M. Bower, Cow-Country (page 195)
      "I've been suspicioning here was where they got their information right along," the sheriff commented, and slipped the handcuffs on the landlord.

References

  • suspicion” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

French

Noun

suspicion f (plural suspicions)

  1. suspicion

Synonyms