Suspect

How to spell suspect

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce suspect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suspect mean?

1. verbTo believe or imagine that something is true or likely, often without proof.
2. nounA person thought to be guilty of a crime or wrongdoing.
3. adjectiveNot to be trusted; of doubtful quality or honesty.

Suspect in a sentence

• verb

  The accountants suspect that an error caused the shortfall.

• noun

  The police questioned the main suspect for several hours.

• adjective

  The contract contained several clauses of suspect legality.

• verb

  Doctors suspect the infection spread through contaminated water.

• noun

  A witness identified the suspect from a line of photographs.

• adjective

  The bridge was closed after engineers found its supports suspect.

Where does suspect come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb suspicere, formed from sub, meaning 'from below' or 'up from under', and specere, meaning 'to look'. The literal image was of looking up at something, but that gaze of looking up at a person carried two opposite shades in Latin: it could mean to admire and look up to someone, or to eye them warily from below with mistrust. English took the wary sense when it borrowed the word through Old French in the late 1300s, first as the past participle 'suspect' meaning regarded with distrust. The same spect root for 'look' runs through a large family of English words, including inspect, spectator, respect, and prospect, which is a useful anchor for the spelling. Over time the noun for an accused or distrusted person and the verb meaning to imagine something is true both grew from that one root.

How the word is built

• sus- (up, from below)
• spect (look); literally 'to look up at' or 'look at from below'