suspect
/səˈspɛkt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.51 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who is suspected of something, in particular of committing a crime.
adj
Viewing with suspicion; suspecting.
Example Sentences
- "to suspect the presence of disease"
- "From her hand I could suspect no ill."
- "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."
- "to suspect the truth of a story"
- "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."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speḱ-, suspect, suspectus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /səˈspɛkt/
- British English: /səˈspɛkt/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.
Inflected Forms
suspects (present, singular)
suspecting (participle, present)
suspected (participle, past)
suspected (past)
suspects (plural)
more suspect (comparative)
most suspect (superlative)