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say it: suh-SPEKT
suspect is a verb, noun and adjective meaning "imagine to be the case or true or probable". It carries 6 recorded senses.
regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in
hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty
“The U.S. suspected Bin Laden as the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks”
someone who is under suspicion
a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused
law
not as expected
“there was something fishy about the accident”
“up to some funny business”
“some definitely queer goings-on”
“a shady deal”
“her motives were suspect”
“suspicious behavior”
colloquialism
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for suspect come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.