SUSPICION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does suspicion mean? 

• SUSPICION (noun)
  The noun SUSPICION has 4 senses:

1. an impression that something might be the case

2. doubt about someone's honesty

3. the state of being suspected

4. being of a suspicious nature

  Familiarity information: SUSPICION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUSPICION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An impression that something might be the case

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

hunch; intuition; suspicion

Context example:

he had an intuition that something had gone wrong

Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):

belief; feeling; impression; notion; opinion (a vague idea in which some confidence is placed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suspicion"):

bosom; heart (the locus of feelings and intuitions)

Derivation:

suspect (imagine to be the case or true or probable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Doubt about someone's honesty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

distrust; misgiving; mistrust; suspicion

Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)

Derivation:

suspect (regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in)

suspicious (openly distrustful and unwilling to confide)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The state of being suspected

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he tried to shield me from suspicion

Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):

antagonism; enmity; hostility (a state of deep-seated ill-will)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suspicion"):

cloud (suspicion affecting your reputation)

Derivation:

suspect (hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Being of a suspicious nature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

suspicion; suspiciousness

Context example:

his suspiciousness destroyed his marriage

Hypernyms ("suspicion" is a kind of...):

distrust; distrustfulness; mistrust (the trait of not trusting others)

 Context examples 

I never had the slightest suspicion, till within the last hour, of Mr. Frank Churchill's having the least regard for Jane Fairfax.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

It would break poor Harker's heart—certainly his nerve—if he knew that we had even a suspicion on the subject.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I knew he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Her suspicions had been aroused, I think, for she looked round her.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Besides, all Southland dogs looked upon him with suspicion.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

You see, Miss Morland, the injustice of your suspicions.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Elizabeth could not conceive how such an absurd suspicion should occur to her, and indignantly answered for each party's perfectly knowing their situation.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"Mother, did you go away and let everything be, just to see how we'd get on?" cried Meg, who had had suspicions all day.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The Doctor, however, who felt, I am sure, that he was making everybody happy, was well pleased, and had no suspicion but that we were all at the utmost height of enjoyment.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Of that he had no suspicion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)