noun · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/
Received-Pronunciation:[səˈd͡ʒɛʃ.t͡ʃən]
Canada, General-American:/sə(ɡ)ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/
California:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Texas:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australian, New-Zealand:/səˈd͡ʒes.t͡ʃən/
CMU ARPABET:S AH0 JH EH1 S CH AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Something suggested (with subsequent adposition being for)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
make a suggestion
I have a small suggestion for fixing this: try lifting the left side up a bit.
Traffic signs seem to be more of a suggestion than an order.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
The act of suggesting.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
Suggestion often works better than explicit demand.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Something implied, which the mind is liable to take as fact.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Topics: human-sciences, psychology, sciences
Examples
He’s somehow picked up the suggestion that I like peanuts.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
The act of exercising control over a hypnotised subject by communicating some belief or impulse by means of words or gestures; the idea so suggested.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Information, insinuation, speculation, as opposed to a sworn testimony and evidence.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
the act of inducing hypnosis
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: hypnotism, mesmerism
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: influence
7
noun
Meaning 7
the sequential mental process in which one thought leads to another by association
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: prompting
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: persuasion, suasion
11
noun
Meaning 11
a just detectable amount
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
he speaks French with a trace of an accent
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: trace, hint
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: small indefinite quantity, small indefinite amount
Narrower terms: spark
History
Etymology
From Middle English suggestion, from Anglo-Norman suggestioun, sugestiun, from Latin suggestiō, from suggerō (“suggest”, verb), from Latin sub- (“from below, up”) + gerō (“to bring”). Equivalent to suggest + -ion. Related to English up-, cast.
Across languages
Translations
113 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
внушение
(vnušenie)
— the act of exercising control over a hypnotised subject by communicating some belief or impulse by means of words or gestures; the idea so suggested
Finnish:
suggestio
— the act of exercising control over a hypnotised subject by communicating some belief or impulse by means of words or gestures; the idea so suggested
Hungarian:
szuggesztió
— the act of exercising control over a hypnotised subject by communicating some belief or impulse by means of words or gestures; the idea so suggested