Word family noun suspect suspicion adjective suspect suspected unsuspecting suspicious verb suspect adverb suspiciously
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsuspectsus‧pect1 /səˈspekt/ ●●○ W3 verb [transitive] 1 SUSPECTto think that something is probably true, especially something badsuspect (that) I suspected that there was something wrong with the engine. She strongly suspected he was lying to her. She’s not going to be very happy about this, I suspect.2 to think that something bad has happened or is happening The doctors suspected pneumonia.suspect murder/foul play The position of the body led the police to suspect murder.suspect something/nothing/anything He never suspected anything.3 SUSPECTto think that someone is probably guilty of a crime Who do you suspect?suspect somebody of (doing) something He’s suspected of murder. Pilcher was suspected of giving away government secrets to the enemy.4 THINK SO/NOT BE SUREto think that something is not honest or true I began to suspect his motives in inviting me.GrammarPatterns with suspect• You suspect that someone does, did, or has done something: I suspect she knows.I suspect he took the money.I suspect they have met before.• You suspect that something may or might be true: We suspect that he may know something about the robbery.The police suspect that he might be a terrorist. • You suspect that someone may or might have done something: Police suspect Foster may have been involved in a fraud.I suspect he might have exaggerated a lot of the things in the book.• You suspected that something would happen: He suspected that the problem would only get worse.I suspected that I would not enjoy the meeting. • In all the above patterns, ‘that’ is optional. You can say I suspect that or just I suspect.Using the progressiveSuspect is not used in the progressive. You say: I suspect he’s lying. ✗Don’t say: I am suspecting he’s lying.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
suspect• He was twice imprisoned when his loyalties were suspected.• Her hair was so smoothly sculpted, I suspected a wig.• No one suspected anything was wrong.• A man has been found dead in his home and the police suspect foul play.• He had suspected her of lying for some time.• We eventually began to suspect his loyalty.• He suspected Hubert had erred in some way, but did not care to ask.• What we suspect is the Bullets are better than their record indicates and will reveal that as the season wears on.• Both men had originally been suspected of Brown's murder.• I suspect that he never really loved her.• Many suspect that retroactive tax cuts could be ditched.• Although they were in the area on the day of the robbery, no one suspected them.• As we suspected, there is a problem with the braking system, and it will be replaced.• Make sure you go to see your doctor as soon as you suspect you are pregnant.• Act naturally and no one will suspect you.I suspect• You'll find Rick's parents rather hard to talk to, I suspect.• A good one, I suspect.• It was the end of something I suspected I had always wanted to do.• I can only tell you how it was for me. I suspect it was worse in a way for my family.• But I suspect McVeigh quickly felt the walls closing in on him from these four sides as the trial progressed.• Poor girl, I suspected she would not derive much pleasure from that relationship.• I suspect that 10 years after the book is published, nobody will even remember the name of the author.• Answer: I suspect that you have bought 720K diskettes.• Though I suspected this was bluster, I realized immediately that something had to be done to calm the man down.• She wanted to know - as I suspect you do - what my relationship had been with her late sister.suspect something/nothing/anything• Nor did the other guests seem to suspect anything.• Such mistakes occurred frequently enough for my parents to suspect nothing.• Then, when Hyde thought the driver was beginning to suspect something, he sent the taxicab away and continued on foot.• He never suspected anything, nor did we for that matter.• Whether he suspects anything or not I do not know.• Questioned after the experiments, not one of the volunteers who were duped said they suspected anything unusual.suspect somebody of (doing) something• Should counselors violate privileged communication by reporting suspected cases of abuse or neglect?• I suspected a bit of all three.• A: We suspected them of being Viet Cong.• But if they suspected you of double-crossing them, that could be a different story.• Two of the bank's managers were suspected of fraud.• He seemed to thrive under prison conditions, which caused the emperors to suspect their guards of going easy on the prisoner.• Why should anyone suspect your brother of harming Monsieur Gebrec?• He'd suspected them of having an affair for a while, but they had both kept their tracks well covered.• Burton was suspected of poisoning her husband.• I suspect that most of the inhabitants are footloose and shiftless.suspectsus‧pect2 /ˈsʌspekt/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 SCCSUSPECTsomeone who is thought to be guilty of a crime Two suspects were arrested today in connection with the robbery. Police have issued a description of the murder suspect.suspect for the two suspects for the robberysuspect in a suspect in a burglary casemain/prime/chief suspect Davies is still the chief suspect.2 → the usual suspectsCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + suspect the prime/chief/main suspectShe didn’t realise he was the prime suspect in a murder case.the number one suspect (=the main suspect)I was the one who found her. And that makes me the number one suspect for her murder.a murder/burglary etc suspectThe murder suspect is described as in his early 20s, wearing a baseball type cap and a dark jacket.a possible suspectThe police drew up a list of possible suspects. verbsarrest/detain a suspectDetectives arrested the suspect after a five-day undercover operation.question/interrogate/interview a suspectPolice confirmed that six suspects are being questioned. Examples from the Corpus
suspect• If witnesses and suspects are interviewed by state workers and evidence is handled, a criminal investigation would be hampered.• The murder suspect is in custody and will be charged soon.• I keep eliminating people from my list and will soon have no suspects left.• Not only did they have no suspects, they could not even identify the boy.• He would be the obvious suspect.• The police now have another name to add to their list of suspects.• A 32-year-old man from London is the prime suspect in the murder investigation.• Two suspects have been held. -Reuter.main/prime/chief suspect• It said there had been seven votes cast and a clear majority for Prime Suspect.• It was only later that smoking was seen to be the prime suspect.• The prime suspect is a man in his 20s, who wears blue overalls and a red baseball cap.• The prime suspect was Vic, though how would he know Mungo was in here?suspectsuspect3 adjective 1 SUSPECTnot likely to be completely honest SYN dodgy I’ve always thought he was a bit of a suspect character. The company was involved in some highly suspect business dealings.2 not likely to be completely true The two men were convicted on the basis of some highly suspect evidence.3 likely to have problems and not work well The engine sounded a bit suspect.4 [only before noun] likely to contain a bomb or something illegal or dangerous Police were called in to check out a suspect van.Examples from the Corpus
suspect• This is because the relatively few studies that have found such a risk are methodologically suspect.• The health benefits of the treatment are suspect.• He knew his wife: for her, any form of desperation was suspect.• Racial classifications are suspect, and that means that simple legislative assurances of good intention can not suffice.• Six people were killed in a suspected arson attack on a hotel.• Possibly it was thought that for this reason, amongst others, she would not be suspect by our controls.• The police or social services will investigate any suspected case of child abuse.• Democrats have returned $1.5 million in suspect contributions.• Psychologically, it must have been extremely difficult for these students to equate suspect institutions with personable people.• The suspect meat, more than eight tonnes of it, ended up in three national supermarket chains.• Police found the suspect package next to a trash can.highly suspect• Monograph relegation based on date labels is highly suspect.• This part of the model is highly suspect.• Here belief in such portents is presented as being highly suspect, and possibly an excuse for more sordid political ends.• Scudamore admitted that there were at least three more highly suspect cases.• Again the virgin birth, in view of what we now know of human reproduction, has become highly suspect for people.• That movement is highly suspect, for two reasons.• At first, of course, he sides with James in regarding Paul's work as highly suspect, if not blasphemous.• All sauces, mayonnaise and salad dressings, creamed soups and cheese-containing concoctions should be considered highly suspect sources of excess calories.highly suspect• Monograph relegation based on date labels is highly suspect.• This part of the model is highly suspect.• Here belief in such portents is presented as being highly suspect, and possibly an excuse for more sordid political ends.• Scudamore admitted that there were at least three more highly suspect cases.• Again the virgin birth, in view of what we now know of human reproduction, has become highly suspect for people.• That movement is highly suspect, for two reasons.• At first, of course, he sides with James in regarding Paul's work as highly suspect, if not blasphemous.• All sauces, mayonnaise and salad dressings, creamed soups and cheese-containing concoctions should be considered highly suspect sources of excess calories.Origin suspect1 (1400-1500) Latin suspectare, from the past participle of suspicere “to look up at, admire, distrust”, from sub- “up, secretly” + specere “to look at” suspect3 (1300-1400) Old French Latin, past participle of suspicere; → SUSPECT1 