suspect
Americanverb (used with object)
-
suspects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
suspected,
past participle, past
-
suspecting
present participle
-
to believe to be guilty, false, counterfeit, undesirable, defective, bad, etc., with little or no proof.
to suspect a person of murder.
-
to doubt or mistrust.
I suspect his motives.
-
to believe to be the case or to be likely or probable; surmise.
I suspect his knowledge did not amount to much.
- Synonyms:
- suppose, conjecture, guess
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to have some hint or foreknowledge of.
I think she suspected the surprise.
verb (used without object)
-
suspects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
suspected,
past participle, past
-
suspecting
present participle
noun
-
suspects
plural
-
a person who is suspected, especially one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like.
-
an animal or thing that is suspected to be the cause of something bad: The cause of the disease was not confirmed, but the suspect was an insect.
Investigators focused on faulty wiring as a suspect in the house fire.
The cause of the disease was not confirmed, but the suspect was an insect.
adjective
idioms
verb
-
(tr) to believe guilty of a specified offence without proof
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(tr) to think false, questionable, etc
she suspected his sincerity
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to surmise to be the case; think probable
to suspect fraud
-
(intr) to have suspicion
noun
adjective
Usage
What does sus mean? Sus is a shortening of suspicious or suspect. In slang, it has the sense of "questionable" or "shady."
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonsuspectnoun
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suspecternoun
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presuspectverb (used with object)
-
suspectibleadjective
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suspectlessadjective
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unsuspectingadjective
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unsuspectinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
suspectsimple
-
suspectssimple
-
have suspectedperfect
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has suspectedperfect
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am suspectingprogressive
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are suspectingprogressive
-
is suspectingprogressive
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have been suspectingperfect progressive
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has been suspectingperfect progressive
Past
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suspectedsimple
-
had suspectedperfect
-
was suspectingprogressive
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were suspectingprogressive
-
had been suspectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of suspect
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English (adjective) from Latin suspectus, past participle of suspicere “to look up, look and see, regard with mistrust,” equivalent to su- “under, below, beneath” + -spicere, combining form of specere “to see, observe, keep an eye on, take into consideration”; (verb) partly from the adjective, partly from Middle French suspecter “to hold suspect,” or directly from Latin suspectāre, frequentative of suspicere; see su-
Explanation
A suspect is a person who is believed to be guilty of a crime. If you leave the scene of a murder with blood on your hands and a weapon in your pocket, you’re likely to become a prime suspect. If others believe you have committed a crime, you are a suspect. The word can also be used as a verb and an adjective. To suspect someone of something is to believe that they probably did it. Do you ever suspect your parents of taking some of your Halloween candy? If something such as someone's excuse or motive is suspect, it seems a bit off. That bad-smelling piece of fish is suspect — you'd better not eat it.
Vocabulary lists containing suspect
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Common Senses: Spec, Spect, Spic ("Look")
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The apartment where the suspect lived was quiet, with the balcony curtains drawn.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
He followed the teenager into a classroom, where he saw a teacher fighting with the suspect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
“Thanks to the quick response and coordinated actions of our officers, the suspect was safely taken into custody, a dangerous firearm was removed from the streets, and no one was injured,” the department’s post said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Scientists suspect Vasuki may have hunted in a similar way, although its precise diet and hunting behavior cannot be determined from the surviving fossils.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
George added Trina's name to the suspect list.
From "Sleepover Sleuths: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #1" by Carolyn Keene
He suspects it runs both ways: Companies that did a good job of setting up the role probably already had the culture and capabilities to exploit the technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
The act's most controversial element - offering immunity from prosecution to suspects who cooperated with an information recovery body - was disapplied after being found by the courts to be unlawful.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The suspects appear to have acted without a buyer or sponsor, said Antonetti.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Other suspects emerged while officers were investigating other crimes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The usual suspects: crazed fans, wannabe disciples, and aspiring bounty hunters.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Investors cited concerns about Indonesian market dysfunction, suspected coordinated trading and a lack of meaningful enforcement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Astronomers have long suspected that black holes operate according to the same underlying physical laws regardless of their mass.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
He suspected they’d be neither—his field had been using machine translation since the 1950s.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
But "there were no opportunities to excavate" the suspected sites, he told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Even if he hadn’t done it, he’d surely be suspected of it.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
He’d been stunned by his star’s nearly centurylong sentence and came away from a review of the case suspecting that Walters may have been wrongfully convicted.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Still, it’s worth noting that Sink’s role has been the subject of much speculation, with fans suspecting she would play Marvel-verse X-Men telekinetic and telepath Jean Grey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Movies rarely venture so far into the hearts of ordinary people trying to do their best but suspecting they have made a great many irreparable mistakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
When you start suspecting that your position might be terminated, it’s easy to mentally check out.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 12, 2026
Later on, Úrsula had put candles on it and had prostrated herself before it, not suspecting that instead of a saint she was adoring almost four hundred pounds of gold.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
