suspicion
/səˈspɪʃ.ən/ noun, verb
Forms suspicions suspicioning suspicioned suspition 'spicion
- noun The act of suspecting something or someone, especially of something wrong.
- noun The condition of being suspected.
- noun Uncertainty, doubt.
- noun A trace, or slight indication. “a suspicion of a smile”
- noun The imagining of something without evidence.
- verb (dialect) To suspect; to have suspicions.
Synonyms
sniff inkling intuition hunch misgiving mistrust distrust suspiciousness
Etymology
From Middle English suspecioun, borrowed from Latin suspīciō, suspīciōnem, from suspicere, from sub- (“up to”) with specere (“to look at”). Perhaps partly through the influence of Old French sospeçon (or rather the Anglo-Norman form suspecioun). Equivalent to suspect + -ion.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of suspecting; the imagination or apprehension of the existence of something (esp. something wrong or hurtful) without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or upon no evidence.
- noun Slight degree; suggestion; hint. [Colloq.]
- verb To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt. [Obs. or Low]
Etymology [OE. suspecioun, OF. souspeçon, F. soupçon, L. suspectio a looking up to, an esteeming highly, suspicion, fr. suspicere to look up, to esteem, to mistrust. The modern form suspicion in English and French is in imitation of L. suspicio mistrust, suspicion. See Suspect, and cf. Suspicious.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “suspicion”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details