[syn: suspicion, suspiciousness]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Suspicion \Sus*pi"cion\, n. [OE. suspecioun, OF. souspe[,c]on,
F. soup[,c]on, L. suspectio a looking up to, an esteeming
highly, suspicion, fr. suspicere to look up, to esteem, to
mistrust. The modern form suspicion in English and French is
in imitation of L. suspicio mistrust, suspicion. See
Suspect, and cf. Suspicious.]
1. The act of suspecting; the imagination or apprehension of
the existence of something (esp. something wrong or
hurtful) without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or
upon no evidence.
[1913 Webster]
Suspicions among thoughts are like bats among birds,
they ever fly by twilight. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
2. Slight degree; suggestion; hint. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
The features are mild but expressive, with just a
suspicion . . . of saturnine or sarcastic humor.
--A. W. Ward.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Jealousy; distrust; mistrust; diffidence; doubt.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Suspicion \Sus*pi"cion\, v. t.
To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt. [Obs. or Low]
--South.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
suspicion
n 1: an impression that something might be the case; "he had an
intuition that something had gone wrong" [syn: intuition,
hunch, suspicion]
2: doubt about someone's honesty [syn: misgiving, mistrust,
distrust, suspicion]
3: the state of being suspected; "he tried to shield me from
suspicion"
4: being of a suspicious nature; "his suspiciousness destroyed
his marriage" [syn: suspicion, suspiciousness]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
132 Moby Thesaurus words for "suspicion":
Pyrrhonism, apprehension, apprehensiveness, bare suggestion,
broad hint, cageyness, cast, caution, cautiousness, chariness,
clue, concern, cue, dash, diffidence, disinclination to believe,
distrust, distrustfulness, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety,
dubiousness, feeling, flavor, foreboding, forefeeling,
funny feeling, gentle hint, gesture, gleam, glimmer, glimmering,
guardedness, half an idea, half-belief, hazy idea, hesitation,
hint, hunch, idea, implication, impression, incertitude,
inconvincibility, incredulity, index, indication, infusion,
inkling, innuendo, insinuation, intimation, intuition,
intuitive impression, kick, leeriness, lick, look, mere notion,
misdoubt, misgiving, mistrust, mistrustfulness, nod, notion, nudge,
preapprehension, premonition, presentiment, prompt, qualm,
question, resistiveness to belief, sauce, scent, scepticism,
scintilla, scruple, scrupulousness, seasoning, second thoughts,
self-doubt, shade, shadow, shadow of doubt, sign, signal, sip,
skepticalness, skepticism, smack, smattering, smell,
sneaking suspicion, soupcon, spark, spice, spoor, sprinkling,
suggestion, sup, suspect, suspiciousness, symptom, tad, taint,
taste, telltale, tempering, thought, tinct, tincture, tinge, tint,
total skepticism, touch, tough-mindedness, trace, track,
uncertainty, unconvincibility, uncredulousness, unpersuadability,
unpersuasibility, vague feeling, vague idea, vestige, wariness,
whiff, whisper, wink, wonder
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
SUSPICION. A belief to the disadvantage of another, accompanied by a doubt.
2. Without proof, suspicion, of itself, is evidence of nothing. When a
crime has been committed, an arrest may be made when, 1st. There are such
circumstances as induce a strong presumption of guilt; as being found in
possession of goods recently stolen, without giving a probable account of
having obtained the possession honestly. 2d. The absconding of the party
accused. 3d. Being found in company of known offenders. 4th. Living an idle
disorderly life, without any apparent means of support. In such cases the
arrest must be made as in other cases. Vide 20 Vin. Ab. 150; 4 Bl. Com. 290.