Meanings
nounprime suspect (plural prime suspects)
plural prime suspects
- lawA person who is considered by the law enforcement agency investigating a crime to be the most likely suspect.
The police had found the getaway car in the field. The rain had washed most of the yellow paint off the Mini to reveal the Union Jack underneath. There was no doubt that the car was Queenie. This led the police to their prime suspect, the car’s owner, Gilbert Goodie.
2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 主要嫌疑犯
- 主要嫌疑犯 (zhǔyào xiányífàn)most likely suspect
Danish hovedmistænkt
- hovedmistænktmost likely suspect
Dutch hoofdverdachte
- hoofdverdachtemost likely suspect
Finnish pääepäilty
- pääepäiltymost likely suspect
French suspect principal
- suspect principalmost likely suspect
German Hauptverdächtiger
- Hauptverdächtigermost likely suspect
Hungarian fő gyanúsított
- fő gyanúsítottmost likely suspect
Italian maggiore indiziato
- maggiore indiziatomost likely suspect
Russian гла́вный подозрева́емый
- гла́вный подозрева́емый (glávnyj podozrevájemyj)most likely suspect
Swedish huvudmisstänkt
- huvudmisstänktmost likely suspect
Cite this entry
APA
prime suspect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prime%20suspect
MLA
“prime suspect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prime%20suspect. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prime suspect,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prime%20suspect.
Source: prime suspect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.