suspend
/səsˈpɛnd/ verb
Forms suspends suspending suspended
- verb To halt something temporarily. “The meeting was suspended for lunch.”
- verb To hold in an undetermined or undecided state.
- verb To discontinue or interrupt a function, task, position, or event. “to suspend a thread of execution in a computer program”
- verb To hang freely; underhang. “to suspend a ball by a thread”
- verb To bring a solid substance, usually in powder form, into suspension in a liquid.
- verb (obsolete) To make to depend.
- verb To debar, or cause to withdraw temporarily, from any privilege, from the execution of an office, from the enjoyment of income, etc. “to suspend a student from college; to suspend a member of a club”
- verb (chemistry) To support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendere.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To attach to something above; to hang; as, to suspend a ball by a thread; to suspend a needle by a loadstone.
- verb To make to depend; as, God hath suspended the promise of eternal life on the condition of obedience and holiness of life. [Archaic]
- verb To cease from operation or activity; esp., to stop payment, or be unable to meet obligations or engagements (said of a commercial firm or a bank).
Etymology [F. suspendre, or OF. souspendre (where the prefix is L. subtus below, from sub under), L. suspendere, suspensum; pref. sus- (see Sub-) + pendere to hang. See Pedant, and cf. Suspense, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “suspend”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details