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Webster 1913 Edition

Suspect

Sus-pect′

,
Adj.
[L.
suspectus
, p. p. of
suspicere
to look up, admire, esteem, to look at secretly or askance, to mistrust;
sub
under +
specere
to look: cf. F.
suspect
suspected, suspicious. See
Spy
, and cf.
Suspicion
.]
1.
Suspicious; inspiring distrust.
[Obs.]
Suspect
[was] his face,
suspect
his word also.
Chaucer.
2.
Suspected; distrusted.
[Obs.]
What I can do or offer is
suspect
.
Milton.

Sus-pect′

,
Noun.
[LL.
suspectus
. See
Suspect
,
Adj.
]
1.
Suspicion.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
So with
suspect
, with fear and grief, dismayed.
Fairfax.
2.
One who, or that which, is suspected; an object of suspicion; – formerly applied to persons and things; now, only to persons suspected of crime.
Bacon.

Sus-pect′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Suspected
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Suspecting
.]
1.
To imagine to exist; to have a slight or vague opinion of the existence of, without proof, and often upon weak evidence or no evidence; to mistrust; to surmise; – commonly used regarding something unfavorable, hurtful, or wrong;
as, to
suspect
the presence of disease
.
Nothing makes a man
suspect
much, more than to know little; and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more.
Bacon.
From her hand I could
suspect
no ill.
Milton.
2.
To imagine to be guilty, upon slight evidence, or without proof;
as, to
suspect
one of equivocation
.
3.
To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; to distruct;
as, to
suspect
the truth of a story
.
Addison.
4.
To look up to; to respect.
[Obs.]
Syn. – To mistrust; distrust; surmise; doubt.

Sus-pect′

,
Verb.
I.
To imagine guilt; to have a suspicion or suspicions; to be suspicious.
If I
suspect
without cause, why then make sport at me.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Suspect

SUSPECT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. suspectus, suspicio; sub and specio, to see or view.]
1.
To mistrust; to imagine or have a slight opinion that something exists, but without proof and often upon weak evidence or no evidence at all. We suspect not only from fear, jealousy or apprehension of evil, but in modern usage, we suspect things which give us no apprehension.
Nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.
From her hand I could suspect no ill.
2.
To imagine to be guilty, but upon slight evidence or without proof. When a theft is committed, we are apt to suspect a person who is known to have been guilty of stealing; but we often suspect a person who is innocent of the crime.
3.
To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; as, to suspect the truth of a story.
4.
To hold to be doubtful. The veracity of a historian, and the impartiality of a judge, should not be suspected.
5.
To conjecture.

SUSPECT'

,
Verb.
T.
To imagine guilt.
If I suspect without cause, why then let me be your jest.

SUSPECT'

,
Adj.
Doubtful. [Not much used.]

SUSPECT'

,
Noun.
Suspicion.

Definition 2024

suspect

suspect

English

Verb

suspect ‎(third-person singular simple present suspects, present participle suspecting, simple past and past participle suspected)

  1. (transitive) To imagine or suppose (something) to be true, or to exist, without proof.
    to suspect the presence of disease
    • Milton
      From her hand I could suspect no ill.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess:
      Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
    • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
      WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.
  2. (transitive) To distrust or have doubts about (something or someone).
    to suspect the truth of a story
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)
  3. (transitive) To believe (someone) to be guilty.
    I suspect him of being the thief.‎
  4. (intransitive) To have suspicion.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To look up to; to respect.

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

suspect ‎(plural suspects)

  1. A person who is suspected of something, in particular of committing a crime.
    Round up the usual suspects. — Casablanca

Translations

Adjective

suspect ‎(comparative more suspect, superlative most suspect)

  1. Viewed with suspicion; suspected.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton:
      What I can do or offer is suspect.
    • 2013 January 1, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 64:
      In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.
  2. (nonstandard) Viewing with suspicion; suspecting.
    • 2004, Will Nickell, letter to the editor of Field & Stream, Volume CIX Number 8 (December 2004–January 2005), page 18:
      Now I’m suspect of other advice that I read in your pages.

Synonyms

Translations

Related terms

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Latin suspectus

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /sys.pɛ/

Adjective

suspect m ‎(feminine singular suspecte, masculine plural suspects, feminine plural suspectes)

  1. suspicious; suspect

Noun

suspect m ‎(plural suspects, feminine suspecte)

  1. a suspect

Etymology

From Old French suspect, from Latin suspectus, perfect passive participle of suspiciō ‎(“mistrust, suspect”), from sus-, combining form of sub ‎(“under”), + speciō ‎(“watch, look at”).

Pronunciation

Adjective, noun

  • enPR: sŭsʹpĕkt, IPA(key): /ˈsʌs.pɛkt/

Verb

  • enPR: səs.pĕktʹ, IPA(key): /səsˈpɛkt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛkt

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