suspicion Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an impression that something might be the case
    intuition; hunch.
    • he had an intuition that something had gone wrong
  2. noun doubt about someone's honesty
    distrust; mistrust; misgiving.
  3. noun the state of being suspected
    • he tried to shield me from suspicion
  4. noun being of a suspicious nature
    suspiciousness.
    • his suspiciousness destroyed his marriage

WordNet

Sus*pi"cion noun
Etymology
OE. suspecioun, OF. souspeçon, F. soupçon, 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.
Definitions
  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.
    Suspicions among thoughts are like bats among birds, they ever fly by twilight. Bacon.
  2. Slight degree; suggestion; hint. Colloq.
    The features are mild but expressive, with just a suspicion . . . of saturnine or sarcastic humor. A. W. Ward.
    Syn. -- Jealousy; distrust; mistrust; diffidence; doubt.
Sus*pi"cion transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt. Obs. or Low South.

Webster 1913