soupçon

plural soupçons · alternative soupcon

1. A very small amount; a hint; a trace, slight idea; an inkling.

   Add a soupçon of red pepper.

   5 more examples

   coffee with a soupçon of cognac

   No one is so depraved that a soupçon of goodness cannot be found in them.

   Henrietta, her niece, looked much prettier than she really was; she had good dark eyes, to which a soupçon of rouge, put on with such skill that few suspected it, gave all possible brightness.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 21

   Eleanor returned the pressure of the other's hand with an infinitesimal soupçon of a squeeze.

   1857, Anthony Trollope, “The Stanhopes at Home”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 259

   […] and as he spoke, there was just a soupçon of foreign accent in the pronunciation of the French vowels, a certain drawl of o's and a's, that would have betrayed the Britisher to an observant ear.

   1906, Baroness Orczy, chapter VI, in I Will Repay, London: Greening & Co, page 88

   Synonyms: ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit

2. datedA suspicion; a suggestion.