suspicion
/səˈspɪʃ(ə)n
/noun
1A feeling or thought that something is possible, likely, or true: she had a sneaking suspicion that he was laughing at her...
- Is her suspicion that all humans are capable of evil true?
- I am now well into my third month of unpaid holiday and beginning to entertain the merest suggestion of an idea of a suspicion that I could get used to this.
- Will's face was a picture of incredulous disbelief haunted by a suspicion that some of it could be true.
Synonyms
intuition, feeling, impression, inkling, surmise, guess, conjecture, speculation, hunch, fancy, notion, supposition, view, belief, idea, conclusion, theory, thesis, hypothesis;
presentiment, premonition
informal gut feeling, feeling in one's bones, funny feeling, sixth sense
1.1A feeling or belief that someone is guilty of an illegal, dishonest, or unpleasant action: police would not say what aroused their suspicions [mass noun]: he was arrested on suspicion of murder...
- Two male employers were arrested on suspicion of employing illegal workers.
- The Canadian police doubted he was a genuine amnesiac and held him on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.
- Most of the detainees have been arrested on suspicion of illegal stay.
2 [mass noun] Cautious distrust: her activities were regarded with suspicion by the headmistress...
- Eventually, the children may come to regard their fathers with suspicion and distrust.
- He also learned that tweens are apt to regard big marketing blitzes with suspicion and distrust.
- On the other hand, there was suspicion, distrust, and hatred.
Synonyms
misgiving, doubt, qualm, wariness, chariness, reservation, hesitation, scepticism, lack of faith, uncertainty, question, question mark, leeriness, distrust, mistrust
3A very slight trace: a suspicion of a smile...
- It shows no great sense of sportsmanship, but rather invokes a suspicion of envy of some kind.
- Back in the brave old days of 1953, there were no avocados, no kiwi fruit, and not a suspicion of mozzarella and tomato pizza.
Synonyms
trace, touch, suggestion, hint, soupçon, tinge, shade, whisper, whiff, bit, trifle, drop, dash, tincture, sprinkling, breath, taste, scent, shadow, glimmer, scintilla, speck, smack, jot, mite, iota, tittle, whit
Phrases
above suspicion
under suspicion
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French suspeciun, from medieval Latin suspectio(n-), from suspicere 'mistrust'. The change in the second syllable was due to association with Old French suspicion (from Latin suspicio(n-) 'suspicion').
suspect from Middle English:
The Latin source of suspect is suspicere ‘mistrust’, formed from sub- ‘from below’ and specere ‘to look’ also the source of suspicion (Middle English).