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suspicion - 7 dictionary results

sus⋅pi⋅cion

  [suh-spish-uhn]
Use suspicion in a Sentence
–noun
1. act of suspecting.
2. the state of mind or feeling of one who suspects: Suspicion kept him awake all night long.
3. an instance of suspecting something or someone.
4. state of being suspected: under suspicion; above suspicion.
5. imagination of anything to be the case or to be likely; a vague notion of something.
6. a slight trace, hint, or suggestion: a suspicion of a smile.
–verb (used with object)
7. Nonstandard. to suspect.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < L suspīciōn- (s. of suspīciō), equiv. to suspīc- (var. s. of suspicere to look from below, suspect ) + -iōn- -ion

Synonyms:
2. doubt, mistrust, misgiving. Suspicion, distrust are terms for a feeling that appearances are not reliable. Suspicion is the positive tendency to doubt the trustworthiness of appearances and therefore to believe that one has detected possibilities of something unreliable, unfavorable, menacing, or the like: to feel suspicion about the honesty of a prominent man. Distrust may be a passive want of trust, faith, or reliance in a person or thing: to feel distrust of one's own ability.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To suspicion
sus·pi·cion   (sə-spĭsh'ən)   
n.  
  1. The act of suspecting something, especially something wrong, on little evidence or without proof.
  2. The condition of being suspected, especially of wrongdoing.
  3. A state of uncertainty; doubt. See Synonyms at uncertainty.
  4. A minute amount or slight indication; a trace.
tr.v.   sus·pi·cioned, sus·pi·cion·ing, sus·pi·cions Nonstandard
To suspect.

[Middle English, alteration (influenced by Old French suspicion) of suspecioun, from Anglo-Norman, variant of Old French sospeçon, from Latin suspectiō, suspectiōn-, from suspectus, past participle of suspicere, to watch; see suspect.]
sus·pi'cion·al adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Suspicion

Sus*pi"cion\, n. [OE. suspecioun, OF. souspe[,c]on, F. soup[,c]on, L. suspectio a looking up to, an esteeming highly, suspicion, fr. suspicere to look up, to esteem, to mistrust. The modern form suspicion in English and French is in imitation of L. suspicio mistrust, suspicion. See Suspect, and cf. Suspicious.]

1. The act of suspecting; the imagination or apprehension of the existence of something (esp. something wrong or hurtful) without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or upon no evidence.

Suspicions among thoughts are like bats among birds, they ever fly by twilight. --Bacon.

2. Slight degree; suggestion; hint. [Colloq.]

The features are mild but expressive, with just a suspicion . . . of saturnine or sarcastic humor. --A. W. Ward.

Syn: Jealousy; distrust; mistrust; diffidence; doubt.

Suspicion

Sus*pi"cion\, v. t. To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt. [Obs. or Low] --South.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : suspicion
Spanish: sospecha,
German: der Argwohn,
Japanese: 疑い
More Translations »

suspicion 
c.1290, from Anglo-Fr. suspecioun, from O.Fr. suspeçun, sospeçon "mistrust, suspicion" (Fr. soupçon), from L. suspectionem (nom. suspectio) "mistrust, suspicion, fear, awe," from pp. stem of suspicere "look up at" (see suspect). Spelling in Eng. infl. 14c. by learned O.Fr. forms closer to L. suspicionem. Suspicious "deserving of or exciting suspicion" is recorded from 1340, from O.Fr. suspecious, from L. suspicious "exciting suspicion." Meaning "full of or inclined to feel suspicion" is attested from c.1400. Edgar Allan Poe (c.1845) proposed suspectful to take one of the two conflicting senses of suspicious.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: sus·pi·cion
Function: noun
: the act or an instance of suspecting something : a mental state usually short of belief in which one entertains a notion that something is wrong or that a fact exists without proof or on slight evidence —see also REASONABLE SUSPICION —sus·pi·cion·less adjective
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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suspicion

see above suspicion.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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