SUSPEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does suspend mean? 

• SUSPEND (verb)
  The verb SUSPEND has 6 senses:

1. hang freely

2. cause to be held in suspension in a fluid

3. bar temporarily; from school, office, etc.

4. stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

5. make inoperative or stop

6. render temporarily ineffective

  Familiarity information: SUSPEND used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUSPEND (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they suspend    ... he / she / it suspends   
Past simple: suspended   
Past participle: suspended   
-ing form: suspending   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hang freely

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The secret police suspended their victims from the ceiling and beat them

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

hang; hang up (cause to be hanging or suspended)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

dangle (cause to dangle or hang freely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

suspender (elastic straps that hold trousers up (usually used in the plural))

suspension (the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to be held in suspension in a fluid

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

suspend the particles

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

resuspend (put back into suspension)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They suspend the lights from the ceiling

Derivation:

suspension (the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely))

suspension (a mixture in which fine particles are suspended in a fluid where they are supported by buoyancy)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bar temporarily; from school, office, etc.

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

debar; suspend

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

expel; kick out; throw out (force to leave or move out)

"Suspend" entails doing...:

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

rusticate; send down (suspend temporarily from college or university, in England)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

suspension (a temporary debarment (from a privilege or position etc))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

freeze; suspend

Context example:

Suspend the aid to the war-torn country

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

break; interrupt (terminate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

suspension (an interruption in the intensity or amount of something)

suspension (temporary cessation or suspension)

suspension (a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make inoperative or stop

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

set aside; suspend

Context example:

suspend payments on the loan

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Render temporarily ineffective

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

the prison sentence was suspended

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

defer; hold over; postpone; prorogue; put off; put over; remit; set back; shelve; table (hold back to a later time)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

A gel may contain suspended particles.

(Gel Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The substance in an emulsion that usually makes up the largest portion of the emulsion and contains another substance suspended within.

(Continuous Phase, NCI Thesaurus)

A method that suspends a substrate in a fluidized bed while it is sprayed with a layer of coating material.

(Fluidized Bed Coating Method, NCI Thesaurus)

Every hope, every expectation from him suspended, at least, and who could say how long?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A tissue with red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and other substances suspended in fluid called plasma.

(Blood, NCI Dictionary)

Holding him suspended with one hand, with the other hand he proceeded to give him a beating.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A mixture of microscopic particles suspended in some sort of liquid medium.

(Colloid, NCI Thesaurus)

Issue associated with fine solids or liquid particles such as dust, smoke, fume, and/or mist suspended in the immediate atmosphere in which the device is being used.

(Environmental Particulates, Food and Drug Administration)

Whatever he might have heard against me—ought he not to have suspended his belief? ought he not to have told me of it, to have given me the power of clearing myself?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours,” he coldly replied.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)