suspicious

[ suh-spish-uhs ]

adjective

1. tending to cause or excite suspicion; questionable:

   suspicious behavior.

   Synonyms: doubtful, dubious, suspect

2. inclined to suspect, especially inclined to suspect evil; distrustful:

   a suspicious tyrant.

   Synonyms: wary, mistrustful

3. full of or feeling suspicion.
4. expressing or indicating suspicion:

   a suspicious glance.

suspicious

/ səˈspɪʃəs /

adjective

1. exciting or liable to excite suspicion; questionable
2. disposed to suspect something wrong
3. indicative or expressive of suspicion

Derived Forms

• susˈpiciousness, noun
• susˈpiciously, adverb

Other Words From

• sus·picious·ly adverb
• sus·picious·ness noun
• hyper·sus·picious adjective
• hyper·sus·picious·ly adverb
• hyper·sus·picious·ness noun
• over·sus·picious adjective
• over·sus·picious·ly adverb
• over·sus·picious·ness noun
• presus·picious adjective
• presus·picious·ly adverb
• presus·picious·ness noun
• self-sus·picious adjective
• super·sus·picious adjective
• super·sus·picious·ly adverb
• super·sus·picious·ness noun
• unsus·picious adjective
• unsus·picious·ly adverb
• unsus·picious·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of suspicious¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Latin suspīciōsus, from suspīci(ō) “mistrust” ( suspicion ) + -ōsus -ous

Example Sentences

They apparently took that as a sign of suspicious activity, even though that can be a hallmark of people on the autism spectrum.

From The Daily Beast

Onscreen, Teller is a bit like a young Vince Vaughn—gregarious, charming, and a tad suspicious.

From The Daily Beast

Black people, especially young black men, are regarded as suspicious, threatening and potentially dangerous.

From The Daily Beast

With this track record, how could the American people be anything other than suspicious of war?

From The Daily Beast

Over dinner, an elderly waitress at a nearby restaurant thought the timing of the attack was suspicious.

From The Daily Beast

It is a vile world because it is an under-educated world, unreasonable, suspicious, base and ferocious.

From Project Gutenberg

Why did he not exercise more precaution when investigating anything so suspicious as a concealed fire?

From Project Gutenberg

"I ask no promise from you," continued the excited and suspicious man, writhing under a sense of his helplessness.

From Project Gutenberg

And here he might have stopped with safety; but his roused, suspicious, sensitive nature, would not suffer him.

From Project Gutenberg

James Otis recovered from a temporary fit of insanity only to grow strangely suspicious of Samuel Adams.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• apprehensive
• careful
• cautious
• doubtful
• incredulous
• jealous
• leery
• mistrustful
• skeptical
• wary
• watchful