Standard Lemma guide

suspicion

noun · verb · 10 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.

  • /səˈspɪʃ.ən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: S AH0 S P IH1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong.

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

2

noun

Meaning 2

The condition of being suspected.

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

3

noun

Meaning 3

Uncertainty, doubt.

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

4

noun

Meaning 4

A trace, or slight indication.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • a suspicion of a smile

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The imagining of something without evidence.

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

6

verb

Meaning 6

To suspect; to have suspicions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

being of a suspicious nature

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his suspiciousness destroyed his marriage

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: suspiciousness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: distrust, distrustfulness, mistrust

8

noun

Meaning 8

doubt about someone's honesty

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: misgiving, mistrust, distrust

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: doubt, uncertainty, incertitude, dubiety, doubtfulness, dubiousness

9

noun

Meaning 9

an impression that something might be the case

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he had an intuition that something had gone wrong

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: intuition, hunch

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: impression, feeling, belief, notion, opinion

Narrower terms: heart, bosom

10

noun

Meaning 10

the state of being suspected

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he tried to shield me from suspicion

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hostility, enmity, antagonism

Narrower terms: cloud

History

Etymology

From Middle English suspecioun, borrowed from Latin suspīciō, suspīciōnem, from suspicere, from sub- (“up to”) with specere (“to look at”). Perhaps partly through the influence of Old French sospeçon (or rather the Anglo-Norman form suspecioun). Equivalent to suspect + -ion.

Across languages

Translations

180 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: dyshim — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Arabic: اِتِّهَام (ittihām) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Arabic: شَكّ (šakk) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Arabic: شُبْهَة (šubha) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Armenian: կասկածանք (kaskacankʻ) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Armenian: կասկած (kaskac) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Asturian: sospecha — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Azerbaijani: şübhə — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Belarusian: падазрэ́нне (padazrénnje) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Belarusian: падазрэ́ньне (padazrénʹnje) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Bengali: সন্দেহ (śondeho) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Bulgarian: подозре́ние (podozrénie) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Burmese: သံသယ (samsa.ya.) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Catalan: sospita — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Cebuano: panahap — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Cebuano: katahap — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Chinese Cantonese: 嫌疑 (jim4 ji4) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Chinese Cantonese: 懷疑 /怀疑 (waai4 ji4) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Chinese Mandarin: 嫌疑 (xiányí) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Chinese Mandarin: 懷疑 /怀疑 (huáiyí) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Czech: podezření — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Danish: mistanke — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Dutch: verdenking — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Esperanto: suspekto — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Esperanto: sentumo — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Estonian: kahtlus — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Finnish: epäily — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • French: suspicion — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • French: soupçon — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Galician: sospeita — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Georgian: ეჭვი (eč̣vi) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Georgian: გუმანი (gumani) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • German: Verdacht — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • German: Argwohn — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Greek: υπόνοια (ypónoia) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ancient Greek: ὑπόνοια (hupónoia) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ancient Greek: ὑποψία (hupopsía) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Hindi: शक (śak) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Hindi: संदेह (sandeh) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Hindi: गुमान (gumān) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Hindi: शुबहा (śubhā) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Hungarian: gyanú — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Icelandic: grunur — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ilocano: atap — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ilocano: suspetsa — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Indonesian: kecurigaan — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Indonesian: syak — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Irish: drochamhras — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Italian: sospetto — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Japanese: 疑い (utagai) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Japanese: 嫌疑 (kengi) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Japanese: 疑心 (gishin) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kazakh: күдік (küdık) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kazakh: шүбә (şübä) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kazakh: шек (şek) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kazakh: күмән (kümän) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: កង្ខា (kangkhaa) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: វិចិកិច្ឆា (vicekecchaa) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: ការសង្ស័យ (kaa sɑɑsɑngsay) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: មន្ទិល (mɔɔmŭəntɨl) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: សង្កា (sɑngkaa) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Khmer: សន្ទិះ (sɑɑsɑntih) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Korean: 의혹 (uihok) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Korean: 의심 (uisim) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Northern Kurdish: guman — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Northern Kurdish: şik — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Northern Kurdish: şibhe — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kyrgyz: шек (şek) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kyrgyz: шектенүү (şektenüü) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Kyrgyz: күмөн (kümön) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Lao: ສັງກາ (sang kā) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Lao: ຂໍ້ສົງໄສ (khǭ song sai) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Latin: suspīciō — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Latin: suspītiō — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Latvian: aizdomas — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Lithuanian: įtarimas — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Macedonian: подозрение (podozrenie) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Macedonian: сомневање (somnevanje) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Malay: syak — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Mongolian: сэжиг (sežig) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mistanke — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Pashto: ګمان (gomān) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Pashto: واند (wānd) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Pashto: وټ (waṭ) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Pashto: شک (šak) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Pashto: شبهه (šebha) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Iranian Persian: سوءِظَنّ (su'ezann) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Iranian Persian: شَکّ (šakk) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Iranian Persian: شَک (šak) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Iranian Persian: گُمان (gomân) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Iranian Persian: شُبْهِه (šobhe) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Polish: podejrzenie — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Portuguese: suspeita — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Portuguese: suspeição — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Romanian: suspiciune — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Russian: подозре́ние (podozrénije) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Sanskrit: शङ्का (śaṅkā) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Sanskrit: सन्देह (sandeha) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Scottish Gaelic: amharas — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Serbo-Croatian: су́мња — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Serbo-Croatian: súmnja — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Slovak: podozrenie — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Slovene: sum — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Spanish: sospecha — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Spanish: suspicacia — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Swedish: misstanke — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tagalog: hinala — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tagalog: suspetsa — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tajik: шубҳа (šubha) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tajik: шак (šak) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tajik: гумон (gumon) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tatar: шик (şik) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Tatar: шөбһә (şöbhä) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Thai: ความสงสัย (kwaam-sǒng-sǎi) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Thai: ข้อสงสัย (kɔ̂ɔ-sǒng-sǎi) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Turkish: şüphe — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ottoman Turkish: شبهه (şübhe) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Turkmen: şübhe — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ukrainian: підо́зра (pidózra) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Ukrainian: підозрі́ння (pidozrínnja) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Urdu: شَک (śak) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Urdu: گُمان (gumān) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Urdu: شُبْہَہ (śubha) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Urdu: سَنْدیہ (sandeh) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Urdu: ظَن (zan) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uyghur: گۇمان (guman) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uyghur: شۈبھە (shübhe) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uyghur: شەك (shek) — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uzbek: shubha — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uzbek: gumon — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Uzbek: shak — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Vietnamese: sự nghi ngờ — act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong
  • Arabic: اِتِّهَام (ittihām) — condition of being suspected
  • Chinese Mandarin: 嫌疑 (xiányí) — condition of being suspected
  • Finnish: epäilyksenalaisuus — condition of being suspected
  • Finnish: epäily — condition of being suspected
  • German: Verdacht — condition of being suspected
  • Hungarian: gyanú — condition of being suspected
  • Icelandic: grunur — condition of being suspected
  • Japanese: 疑い (utagai) — condition of being suspected
  • Japanese: 容疑 (yōgi) — condition of being suspected
  • Māori: toera — condition of being suspected
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mistanke — condition of being suspected
  • Polish: podejrzenie — condition of being suspected
  • Russian: подозре́ние (podozrénije) — condition of being suspected
  • Swedish: misstanke — condition of being suspected
  • Ukrainian: підо́зра (pidózra) — condition of being suspected
  • Bulgarian: съмне́ние (sǎmnénie) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Finnish: epäilys — uncertainty, doubt
  • Galician: sospeita — uncertainty, doubt
  • German: Verdacht — uncertainty, doubt
  • German: Argwohn — uncertainty, doubt
  • Japanese: 疑い (utagai) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Japanese: 疑惑 (giwaku) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Malayalam: അനിശ്ചിതത്വം (aniścitatvaṁ) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Malayalam: സംശയം (saṁśayaṁ) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Māori: hotonga — uncertainty, doubt
  • Māori: toera — uncertainty, doubt
  • Polish: podejrzliwość — uncertainty, doubt
  • Scottish Gaelic: amharas — uncertainty, doubt
  • Turkish: şüphe — uncertainty, doubt
  • Turkish: kuşku — uncertainty, doubt
  • Turkish: işkil — uncertainty, doubt
  • Ottoman Turkish: شبهه (şübhe) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Zazaki: guman (diq) — uncertainty, doubt
  • Finnish: häivähdys — slight indication
  • Finnish: häivä — slight indication
  • German: Verdacht — slight indication
  • Japanese: 疑い (utagai) — slight indication
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mistanke — slight indication
  • Polish: ślad — slight indication
  • Polish: trop — slight indication
  • Polish: poszlaka — slight indication
  • Polish: cień — slight indication
  • Swedish: misstanke — slight indication
  • Finnish: epäluulo — imagining without evidence
  • German: Verdächtigung — imagining without evidence
  • Japanese: 疑い (utagai) — imagining without evidence
  • Polish: podejrzenie — imagining without evidence
  • Ukrainian: підо́зра (pidózra) — imagining without evidence
Real reading context

suspicion in complete knowledge articles