
verb (used with object)
- 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.
- to have some hint or foreknowledge of: I think she suspected the surprise.
verb (used without object)
- to believe something, especially something evil or wrong, to be the case; have suspicion.
noun
- a person who is suspected, especially one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like.
adjective
- suspected; open to or under suspicion.
verb (səˈspɛkt)
- (tr) to believe guilty of a specified offence without proof
- (tr) to think false, questionable, etcshe suspected his sincerity
- (tr; may take a clause as object) to surmise to be the case; think probableto suspect fraud
- (intr) to have suspicion
noun (ˈsʌspɛkt)
- a person who is under suspicion
adjective (ˈsʌspɛkt)
- causing or open to suspicion
adj.mid-14c., from Old French suspect “suspicious,” from Latin suspectus “suspected, suspicious,” past participle of suspicere “look up at, mistrust, suspect,” from sub “up to” + specere “to look at” (see scope (n.1)). The notion is of “look at secretly,” hence, “look at distrustfully.” The verb is attested from late 15c.; the noun meaning “a suspected person” is first recorded 1590s. Related: Suspected; suspecting.