Suspension

How to spell suspension

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce suspension

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suspension mean?

1. nounA temporary stopping of an activity, or the act of barring someone from work, school, or play for a set period.
2. nounThe system of springs and shock absorbers that supports a vehicle and cushions it from bumps in the road.
3. nounA mixture in which small solid particles are dispersed throughout a liquid without dissolving.

Suspension in a sentence

• The player received a three-match suspension after the foul.

• The mechanic replaced the worn front suspension on the old hatchback.

• The medicine is a suspension that must be shaken before each dose.

• The company announced a temporary suspension of all overseas deliveries.

• A soft suspension makes the ride smoother over rough roads.

• The lab measured how quickly the clay settled out of the suspension.

Where does suspension come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb suspendere, which literally meant 'to hang up' or 'to hang from below', formed from sub 'up from under' and pendere 'to hang'. From the same pendere root English also gained pendant, pendulum, and pending, all carrying that idea of something dangling or left hanging. The Latin past participle suspensus produced the noun suspensio, meaning a hanging or an interruption, and this passed through Old French as suspension before entering English in the late 1300s. The earliest English uses were figurative, describing the temporary halting or 'hanging up' of an action or judgement, and only later did the concrete senses of a mixture held in fluid and a vehicle's springing system develop. The spelling trap is the -sion ending, since the spoken word ends in the same sound as words spelled -tion, and the silent link to 'pend' is no longer obvious to the eye.

How the word is built

• sus- (variant of sub-: up from under)
• pend (from pendere: to hang)
• -sion (noun-forming suffix)