suspiciousadjective
uk/səˈspɪʃ.əs/us/səˈspɪʃ.əs/suspicious adjective (SEEM GUILTY)
B2 making you feel that something illegal is happening or that something is wrong:
Her behaviour was very suspicious.
The fire at the bank is being treated as suspicious.
It's a little suspicious that no one knows where he was at the time of the murder.
There were some suspicious characters hanging around outside.
There's a suspicious-looking van parked at the end of the street.
His new book bears a suspicious resemblance to a book written by someone else. (= His book is so similar to the other book that it seems as if he has copied it.)
More examples
- She died in suspicious circumstances.
- The public were warned to be on the alert for suspicious packages.
- There was something furtive about his behaviour and I immediately felt suspicious.
- His reticence about his past made them very suspicious.
- He looks very suspicious hanging around by the bins - I'm sure he's up to something.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Strange, suspicious and unnatural
- aberrant
- abnormal
- add
- bizarre
- curious
- funny ha-ha or funny peculiar? idiom
- kinky
- kooky
- like nothing (else) on earth idiom
- like nothing on earth idiom
- not add up idiom
- peculiarly
- random
- rum
- sicko
- singularity
- singularly
- weird
- whacky
- whimsical
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suspicious adjective (DOUBT)
B2 feeling doubt or no trust in someone or something:
His colleagues became suspicious (= thought that there was something wrong) when he did not appear at work, since he was always punctual.
They are deeply/highly (= very) suspicious of one another/of each other's motives.
My mother has a very suspicious nature (= does not trust people).
More examples
- Older people tend to be quite conservative and a bit suspicious of any supposed advances.
- She allowed that she might have been too suspicious.
- Of course I'm telling the truth - you've got such a suspicious mind!
- I was becoming increasingly suspicious of his motives.
- We became suspicious when the letter did not arrive.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Suspecting & questioning
- call
- call into question idiom
- cynic
- dispute
- doubter
- I'd like to see... idiom
- if
- misgiving
- niggle
- query
- question
- reservation
- sceptical
- skeptic
- skeptical
- smell
- smell a rat idiom
- suspect
- suspiciously
- suss
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