Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

suspicion

/səˈspɪʃ.ən/ noun

In Latin: suspīciō, suspītiō Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about suspicion at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

An impression that something might be the case.
he had an intuition that something had gone wrong
Doubt about someone's honesty.
The state of being suspected.
he tried to shield me from suspicion

Origin

From Middle English suspecioun, borrowed from Latin suspīciō, suspīciōnem, from suspicere, from sub- (“up to”) with specere (“to look at”). Perhaps partly through the influence of Old French sospeçon (or rather the Anglo-Norman form suspecioun). Equivalent to suspect + -ion.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word