suspect

From Old French suspect, from Latin suspectus, perfect passive participle of suspiciō (“mistrust, suspect”), from sub (“under”), + speciō (“watch, look at”).

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Adjective, noun

• enPR: sŭsʹpĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈsʌs.pɛkt/

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Verb

• enPR: sə.spĕktʹ, IPA^(key): /səˈspɛkt/

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• Rhymes: -ɛkt

suspect (third-person singular simple present suspects, present participle suspecting, simple past and past participle suspected)

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

   to suspect the presence of disease

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     From her hand I could suspect no ill.

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

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

     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.

2. (transitive) To distrust or have doubts about (something or someone).

   to suspect the truth of a story

   • 1785, James Ridgway, A Dictionary of Literary Conversation‎:

     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.

3. (transitive) To believe (someone) to be guilty.

   I suspect him of being the thief.

4. (intransitive) To have suspicion.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To look up to; to respect.

• (imagine or suppose to be true): imagine, suppose, think
• (distrust, have doubts about): distrust, doubt
• (believe to be guilty): accuse, point the finger at

suspect (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.

• prime suspect
• suspectless
• usual suspects

suspect (comparative more suspect, superlative most suspect)

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

     What I can do or offer is suspect.

   • 2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 9 February 2017, page 64:

     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.

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

     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.

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

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

2. (nonstandard) Viewing with suspicion; suspecting.
   • 2004, Will Nickell, letter to the editor of Field & Stream, Volume CIX Number 8 (December 2004–January 2005), page 18

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

• (viewed with suspicion): dodgy (informal), doubtful, dubious, fishy (informal), suspicious, sus (slang)

• suspicion
• suspicious

• cupsets, suscept

From Latin suspectus.

• IPA^(key): /sys.pɛ/

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suspect (feminine suspecte, masculine plural suspects, feminine plural suspectes)

1. suspicious; suspect

• The -ct- becomes audible in the feminine forms (as [kt]). It is one of very few adjectives in which two mute consonants reappear.

• suspectement

suspect m (plural suspects, feminine suspecte)

1. a suspect

• “suspect”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French suspect, from Latin suspectus.

suspect m or n (feminine singular suspectă, masculine plural suspecți, feminine and neuter plural suspecte)

1. suspicious, doubtful

suspect m (plural suspecți)

1. suspect

• suspectă