suspense

[suh-spens]

noun

1. a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety.

2. a state of mental indecision.

3. undecided or doubtful condition, as of affairs.

   For a few days matters hung in suspense.

4. the state or condition of being suspended.

suspense

/ səˈspɛns /

noun

1. the condition of being insecure or uncertain

   the matter of the succession remained in suspense for many years

2. mental uncertainty; anxiety

   their father's illness kept them in a state of suspense

3. excitement felt at the approach of the climax

   a play of terrifying suspense

4. the condition of being suspended

Other Word Forms

• suspenseful adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of suspense¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin suspēnsum deferment, suspension, uncertainty, noun use of neuter of Latin suspēnsus hung up, doubtful, in suspense (past participle of suspendere to hang up, leave undecided), equivalent to sus- sus- + pēnsus ( pend-, stem of pendere (translation) to hang ( pend ) + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s )

Word History and Origins

Origin of suspense¹

C15: from Medieval Latin suspensum delay, from Latin suspendere to hang up; see _suspend

Example Sentences

Neither is especially surprising — “in their beginning is their end,” to switch up a line of Eliot — though they do provide some suspense and twists along the way.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I won’t spoil how, but it’s emotionally ruinous for the people involved, even if Mr. Laxe stages it with a bit of cheapening suspense.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In a country that treats art as sacred inheritance, maybe the true suspense isn’t whether they’ll get away.

Read more on Salon

But his chronicle of that heist expands into a saga of psychological suspense spanning nearly two decades and following half a dozen characters whose lives are twisted into grotesque shapes by their addictive compulsions.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Now the suspense shifts to the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting, and whether policymakers will cut again, or hit pause.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• anxiety 
• apprehension 
• confusion 
• doubt 
• insecurity 
• tension 
• thriller 
• uncertainty