suspect

present singular third person suspects · participle present suspecting · participle past suspected · past suspected

1. transitiveTo imagine or suppose (something) to be true, or to exist, without proof.

   to suspect the presence of disease

   3 more examples

   From her hand I could suspect no ill.

   1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

   2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18

   Synonyms: imagine, suppose, think, sniff

2. transitiveTo distrust or have doubts about (something or someone).

   to suspect the truth of a story

   1 more example

   An inhabitant of Gubio, in the duchy of Urbino, in Italy, suspecting the fidelity of his wife, he, in a fit of jealousy, in order to find out whether his suspicion was true, did what the ecclesiastick history informs us Origen did from devotion.

   1785, James Ridgway, A Dictionary of Literary Conversation

   Synonyms: distrust, doubt

3. transitiveTo believe (someone) to be guilty.

   I suspect him of being the thief.

   Synonyms: accuse, point the finger at

4. intransitiveTo have suspicion.
5. obsoletetransitiveTo look up to; to respect.

plural suspects

1. A person who is suspected of something, in particular of committing a crime.

   1942, Casablanca, written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch Round up the usual suspects.

comparative more suspect · superlative most suspect

1. Viewed with suspicion; suspected.

   What I can do or offer is suspect.

   1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 2

   3 more examples

   In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.

   2013 January 28, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 09 Feb 2017, page 64

   Facing a backlash over the use of the term “cosmopolitan,” [Josh] Hawley later defended himself against accusations of antisemitism on Twitter as “an ardent advocate of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.” But this conflation of the state of Israel and the Jewish people is the entire point. To today’s far right, Israel is a firm ally against Islam, while “cosmopolitans,” many of whom just happen to be Jewish, are suspect.

   2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents

   What appears suspect about the Beeching Report is how quickly it was railroaded through, with the answers manufactured before the questions were asked.

   2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52

   Synonyms: dodgy, doubtful, dubious, fishy, suspicious, sus

2. nonstandardViewing with suspicion; suspecting.

   Now I’m suspect of other advice that I read in your pages.

   2004, Will Nickell, letter to the editor of Field & Stream, Volume CIX Number 8 (December 2004–January 2005), page 18