suspect

[ verb suh-spekt; noun suhs-pekt; adjective suhs-pekt, suh-spekt ]

verb (used with object)

1. to believe to be guilty, false, counterfeit, undesirable, defective, bad, etc., with little or no proof:

   to suspect a person of murder.

2. to doubt or mistrust:

   I suspect his motives.

3. to believe to be the case or to be likely or probable; surmise:

   I suspect his knowledge did not amount to much.

   Synonyms: suppose, conjecture, guess

4. to have some hint or foreknowledge of:

   I think she suspected the surprise.

verb (used without object)

1. to believe something, especially something evil or wrong, to be the case; have suspicion.

noun

1. a person who is suspected, especially one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like.
2. an animal or thing that is suspected to be the cause of something bad: The cause of the disease was not confirmed, but the suspect was an insect.

   Investigators focused on faulty wiring as a suspect in the house fire.

   The cause of the disease was not confirmed, but the suspect was an insect.

adjective

1. suspected; open to or under suspicion.

suspect

verb

1. tr to believe guilty of a specified offence without proof
2. tr to think false, questionable, etc

   she suspected his sincerity

3. tr; may take a clause as object to surmise to be the case; think probable

   to suspect fraud

4. intr to have suspicion

noun

1. a person who is under suspicion

adjective

1. causing or open to suspicion

Derived Forms

• susˈpecter, noun
• ˈsuspectless, adjective

Other Words From

• sus·pect·i·ble adjective
• non·sus·pect noun adjective
• pre·sus·pect verb (used with object)
• un·sus·pect·ing adjective
• un·sus·pect·ing·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of suspect¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English (adjective) from Latin suspectus, past participle of suspicere “to look up, look and see, regard with mistrust,” equivalent to su- “under, below, beneath” + -spicere, combining form of specere “to see, observe, keep an eye on, take into consideration”; (verb) partly from the adjective, partly from Middle French suspecter “to hold suspect,” or directly from Latin suspectāre, frequentative of suspicere; su-

Word History and Origins

Origin of suspect¹

C14: from Latin suspicere to mistrust, from sub- + specere to look

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. the usual suspects, the people, animals, or things that are commonly associated with a particular activity, situation, etc. (often used facetiously):

   We visited a family farm with sheep and bunnies and roosters and goats—the usual suspects!

Example Sentences

Three suspects are facing charges for their alleged involvement in the pop star’s sudden demise.

From Los Angeles Times

Prime suspect Mr Lamba, 23, is thought to have fled the country and his current whereabouts are unknown.

From BBC

Key suspects believed to be involved in the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning took part in a revealing Russian TV interview, an inquiry has been told.

From BBC

On 4 November, the prime minister announced plans to create a new Border Security Command, which the government say will have enhanced powers to trace suspected traffickers and shut down their bank accounts.

From BBC

It urged the health system to take additional steps, including creating an online tool for patients to report incidents of suspected bias.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• assume
• believe
• consider
• doubt
• presume
• speculate
• think
• wonder

About This Word

What does sus mean?

Sus is a shortening of suspicious or suspect. In slang, it has the sense of “questionable” or “shady.”

Where does sus come from?

In England and Wales, sus appears in sus law, a name for a stop-and-search law that allowed the police to arrest suspected persons if they appear in violation of the Vagrancy Act of 1824.

The British shortening dates back to the 1950s, with earlier abbreviations of sus for suspicion in other contexts reaching into the 1930s (and related to suss out). Black and ethnic minority groups felt especially targeted by sus laws in the 1970s–80s and ran a successful campaign called Scrap Sus. The law was indeed scrapped in 1981.

Across the pond, sus is short of suspicious, extended to people’s behavior, beliefs, or other things deemed “shady” or “sketchy” in some way. Perhaps a shortening independent from the British English slang, sus spreads online in Black and internet slang in the early 2000s, entered on Urban Dictionary as early as 2003.

How is sus used in real life?

In the UK, expect to encounter sus in the context of historic sus laws, often discussed in terms of racial inequalities in policing.

I need to remind my former @metpoliceuk senior officers that indiscriminate stop & searches without reasonable grounds through the #SusLaw in #OperationSwamp was a key factor behind the #BrixtonRiots. They need to refresh their memory of the #ScarmanReport. #InstitutionalAmnesia pic.twitter.com/WlvenyYn8L

— Leroy Logan MBE (@LeroyLogan999) November 12, 2018

On the internet and in Black slang, sus commonly calls out some behavior, action, person, or thing as questionable or objectionable. In this way, sus has come to mean “bad” more generally.

Sus has spread into more mainstream slang, notably appropriated by Tesla’s Elon Musk in a June 2018 tweet.

Looks so sus when we paint cars red pic.twitter.com/SIO2nInjhJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 23, 2018

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.