suspect — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To imagine or suppose (something) to be true, or to exist, without proof.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   to suspect the presence of disease

   From her hand I could suspect no ill.

   More examples (2)

   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.

   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. To distrust or have doubts about (something or someone).

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   to suspect the truth of a story

   More examples (1)

   An inhabitant of Gubio, in the duchy of Urbino, in Italy, suspecting the fidelity of his wife, he, in a fit of jealousy, in order to find out whether his suspicion was true, did what the ecclesiastick history informs us Origen did from devotion.

3. To believe (someone) to be guilty.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   I suspect him of being the thief.

4. To have suspicion.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

5. To look up to; to respect.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Transitive

Noun

1. A person who is suspected of something, in particular of committing a crime.

   Examples

   1942, Casablanca, written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch Round up the usual suspects.

Adjective

1. Viewed with suspicion; suspected.

   Examples

   What I can do or offer is suspect.

   More examples (2)

   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.

   Facing a backlash over the use of the term “cosmopolitan,” [Josh] Hawley later defended himself against accusations of antisemitism on Twitter as “an ardent advocate of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.” But this conflation of the state of Israel and the Jewish people is the entire point. To today’s far right, Israel is a firm ally against Islam, while “cosmopolitans,” many of whom just happen to be Jewish, are suspect.

   What appears suspect about the Beeching Report is how quickly it was railroaded through, with the answers manufactured before the questions were asked.

2. Viewing with suspicion; suspecting.

   Usage

   • nonstandard

   Examples

   Now I’m suspect of other advice that I read in your pages.

Adjective

1. not as expected

   Synonyms

   fishyfunnyshadysuspicious

   Examples

   there was something fishy about the accident

   up to some funny business

   More examples (4)

   some definitely queer goings-on

   a shady deal

   her motives were suspect

   suspicious behavior

Noun

1. someone who is under suspicion

   Broader terms

   actordoerworker

2. a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused

   Synonyms

   defendant

   Broader terms

   litigantlitigator

Verb

1. imagine to be the case or true or probable

   Synonyms

   surmise

   Broader terms

   guessventurepretendhazard

   Examples

   I suspect he is a fugitive

   I surmised that the butler did it

2. regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in

   Synonyms

   distrustmistrust

   Broader terms

   disbelievediscredit

   Examples

   I suspect her true motives

   she distrusts her stepmother

3. hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty

   Broader terms

   thinkopinesupposeimaginereckonguess

   Examples

   The U.S. suspected Bin Laden as the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks