suspect

[v. suh-spekt; n. suhs-pekt; adj. suhs-pekt, suh-spekt] /v. səˈspɛkt; n. ˈsʌs pɛkt; adj. ˈsʌs pɛkt, səˈspɛkt/
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.
4.
to have some hint or foreknowledge of:
I think she suspected the surprise.
verb (used without object)
5.
to believe something, especially something evil or wrong, to be the case; have suspicion.
noun
6.
a person who is suspected, especially one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like.
adjective
7.
suspected; open to or under suspicion.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English (adj.) < Latin suspectāre, equivalent to su- su- + spectāre, frequentative of specere to look at
Related forms
suspectible, adjective
nonsuspect, noun, adjective
presuspect, verb (used with object)
unsuspecting, adjective
unsuspectingly, adverb
Synonyms
3. guess, conjecture, suppose.
Examples from the web for suspect
  • Bring re-sealable plastic bags to any occasion where you suspect food will be served.
  • Every bank is suspect and any bank seeking to raise money by selling a position is more suspect than ever.
  • The cause of half the deaths is still unknown, but officials suspect red tide might have played a role.
  • Such advances could allow law enforcement to sketch a description from clues in a suspect s genes.
  • Scientists suspect the behavior may benefit the birds by attracting insects or signaling to other owls that the nest is occupied.
  • Astronomers suspect the system was once made up of two stars that formed billions of years ago.
  • Once a leak occurs, he will narrow down the number of triplets that remain suspect.
  • They suspect that a fishing vessel picked it up accidentally.
  • In several others, however, the science played a crucial role in narrowing the suspect field and ultimately led to an arrest.
  • Police deem this out-dated, as a suspect can switch rapidly from one cellphone to another.
British Dictionary definitions for suspect

suspect

verb (səˈspɛkt)
1.
(transitive) to believe guilty of a specified offence without proof
2.
(transitive) to think false, questionable, etc: she suspected his sincerity
3.
(transitive; may take a clause as object) to surmise to be the case; think probable: to suspect fraud
4.
(intransitive) to have suspicion
noun (ˈsʌspɛkt)
5.
a person who is under suspicion
adjective (ˈsʌspɛkt)
6.
causing or open to suspicion
Derived Forms
suspecter, noun
suspectless, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Latin suspicere to mistrust, from sub- + specere to look
Word Origin and History for suspect
adj.

mid-14c., from Old French suspect "suspicious," from Latin suspectus "suspected, suspicious," past participle of suspicere "look up at, mistrust, suspect," from sub "up to" + specere "to look at" (see scope (n.1)). The notion is of "look at secretly," hence, "look at distrustfully." The verb is attested from late 15c.; the noun meaning "a suspected person" is first recorded 1590s. Related: Suspected; suspecting.