English Dictionary |
SUSPICION
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Dictionary entry overview: What does suspicion mean?
• SUSPICION (noun)
The noun SUSPICION has 4 senses:
1. an impression that something might be the case
2. doubt about someone's honesty
3. the state of being suspected
4. being of a suspicious nature
Familiarity information: SUSPICION used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
An impression that something might be the case
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
Context example:
he had an intuition that something had gone wrong
Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):
belief; feeling; impression; notion; opinion (a vague idea in which some confidence is placed)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suspicion"):
bosom; heart (the locus of feelings and intuitions)
Derivation:
suspect (imagine to be the case or true or probable)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Doubt about someone's honesty
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
distrust; misgiving; mistrust; suspicion
Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):
doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)
Derivation:
suspect (regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in)
suspicious (openly distrustful and unwilling to confide)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The state of being suspected
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Context example:
he tried to shield me from suspicion
Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):
antagonism; enmity; hostility (a state of deep-seated ill-will)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suspicion"):
cloud (suspicion affecting your reputation)
Derivation:
suspect (hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Being of a suspicious nature
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
suspicion; suspiciousness
Context example:
his suspiciousness destroyed his marriage
Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):
distrust; distrustfulness; mistrust (the trait of not trusting others)
Context examples
I never had the slightest suspicion, till within the last hour, of Mr. Frank Churchill's having the least regard for Jane Fairfax.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
It would break poor Harker's heart—certainly his nerve—if he knew that we had even a suspicion on the subject.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I knew he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Her suspicions had been aroused, I think, for she looked round her.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Besides, all Southland dogs looked upon him with suspicion.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
You see, Miss Morland, the injustice of your suspicions.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Elizabeth could not conceive how such an absurd suspicion should occur to her, and indignantly answered for each party's perfectly knowing their situation.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
"Mother, did you go away and let everything be, just to see how we'd get on?" cried Meg, who had had suspicions all day.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The Doctor, however, who felt, I am sure, that he was making everybody happy, was well pleased, and had no suspicion but that we were all at the utmost height of enjoyment.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Of that he had no suspicion.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Feed the goat to fill the pot." (Albanian proverb)
"God gives time but doesn't forget." (Arabic proverb)
"That which is written in Heaven, comes to pass on Earth." (Corsican proverb)