suggest

English

Etymology

Coined based on Latin suggestus, perfect passive participle of suggerō (“bring up, bring under, lay beneath, furnish, supply, excite, advise, suggest”, verb), from sub (“from below, under”) + gerō (“bear, carry”, verb).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /səˈd͡ʒɛst/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /sə(ɡ)ˈd͡ʒɛst/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛst

Verb

suggest (third-person singular simple present suggests, present participle suggesting, simple past and past participle suggested)

  1. (transitive) To imply but stop short of explicitly stating (something).
    Are you suggesting that I killed my wife?
  2. (transitive) To cause one to suppose (something); to bring to one's mind the idea (of something).
    The name "hamburger" suggests that hamburgers originated from Hamburg.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
      , Book II, Chapter III
      Some ideas […] are suggested to the mind by all the ways of sensation and reflection.
    • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:
      In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.
    • 2013 August 16, Sarah Boseley, “Children shun vegetables and fruit”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 15:
      The [British Heart Foundation's] data […] suggests there has been little improvement in eating, drinking and exercise habits in spite of the concern about obesity and the launch of the government's child measurement programme, which warns parents if their children are overweight. About a third of under-16s across the UK are either overweight or obese.
  3. (transitive) To explicitly mention (something) as a possibility for consideration, often to recommend it
    He suggests that we celebrate with dinner at Bellissimo. He suggests our celebrating with dinner at Bellissimo.
    The guidebook suggests that we visit the local cathedral, which is apparently beautiful.
    • 2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian:
      But Rachida Dati has now turned on her own party elite with such ferocity that some have suggested she should be expelled from the president's ruling party.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To seduce; to prompt to evil; to tempt.

Usage notes
  • This verb can take a finite clause as its object, which uses the indicative mood in the first and second senses, but the subjunctive mood in the third sense: “The researcher's work suggests that this school operates differently” means that the research results are more consistent with this school being run differently from the way under discussion than with it being so run, while “The researcher's work suggests that this school operate differently” means that the researcher recommends changing how this school is run. (However, in informal British English, the indicative is often used for all senses.) As a mandative subjunctive, should may be included in the construction, which can prevent ambiguity when the indicative and subjunctive would be identical without it: “The researcher's work suggests that this school should operate differently”.
  • This verb can be used catenatively, in which case it takes a gerund (the form ending in -ing) as its object. See Appendix:English catenative verbs.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
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See also

Further reading
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