noun
- the act of suspending.
- the state of being suspended.
- temporary abrogation or withholding, as of a law, privilege, decision, belief, etc.
- stoppage of payment of debts or claims because of financial inability or insolvency.
- Chemistry.
- the state in which the particles of a substance are mixed with a fluid but are undissolved.
- a substance in such a state.
- Physical Chemistry. a system consisting of small particles kept dispersed by agitation (mechanical suspension) or by the molecular motion in the surrounding medium (colloidal suspension).
- something on or by which something else is suspended or hung.
- something that is suspended or hung.
- Also called suspension system. the arrangement of springs, shock absorbers, hangers, etc., in an automobile, railway car, etc., connecting the wheel-suspension units or axles to the chassis frame.
- Electricity. a wire, filament, or group of wires by which the conducting part of an instrument or device is suspended.
- Music.
- the prolongation of a tone in one chord into the following chord, usually producing a temporary dissonance.
- the tone so prolonged.
- Rhetoric. the heightening of interest by delay of the main subject or clause, especially by means of a series of parallel preceding elements.
noun
- an interruption or temporary revocationthe suspension of a law
- a temporary debarment, as from position, privilege, etc
- a deferment, esp of a decision, judgment, etc
- law
- a postponement of execution of a sentence or the deferring of a judgment, etc
- a temporary extinguishment of a right or title
- cessation of payment of business debts, esp as a result of insolvency
- the act of suspending or the state of being suspended
- a system of springs, shock absorbers, etc, that supports the body of a wheeled or tracked vehicle and insulates it and its occupants from shocks transmitted by the wheelsSee also hydraulic suspension
- a device or structure, usually a wire or spring, that serves to suspend or support something, such as the pendulum of a clock
- chem a dispersion of fine solid or liquid particles in a fluid, the particles being supported by buoyancySee also colloid
- the process by which eroded particles of rock are transported in a river
- music one or more notes of a chord that are prolonged until a subsequent chord is sounded, usually to form a dissonance
n.early 15c., “temporary halting or deprivation,” from Latin suspensionem (nominative suspensio) “the act or state of hanging up, a vaulting,” from past participle stem of suspendere “to hang” (see suspend). A semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. [Coleridge, “Biographia Literaria,” 1817] Meaning “action of hanging by a support from above” is attested from 1540s. Suspension bridge first recorded 1821. n.
- A noncolloidal dispersion of solid particles in a liquid, often used for pharmaceutical preparations.
- The fixation of an organ to other tissue for support, as the uterus.
- The hanging of a part from a support, such as a plaster-encased limb.
- A mixture in which small particles of a substance are dispersed throughout a gas or liquid. If a suspension is left undisturbed, the particles are likely to settle to the bottom. The particles in a suspension are larger than those in either a colloid or a solution. Muddy water is an example of a suspension. Compare colloid solution.