SUSPECT', verb transitive [Latin suspectus, suspicio; sub and specio, to see or view.]

1. To mistrust; to imagine or have a slight opinion that something exists, but without proof and often upon weak evidence or no evidence at all. We suspect not only from fear, jealousy or apprehension of evil, but in modern usage, we suspect things which give us no apprehension.

Nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.

From her hand I could suspect no ill.

2. To imagine to be guilty, but upon slight evidence or without proof. When a theft is committed, we are apt to suspect a person who is known to have been guilty of stealing; but we often suspect a person who is innocent of the crime.

3. To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; as, to suspect the truth of a story.

4. To hold to be doubtful. The veracity of a historian, and the impartiality of a judge, should not be suspected.

5. To conjecture.

SUSPECT', verb transitive To imagine guilt.

If I suspect without cause, why then let me be your jest.

SUSPECT', adjective Doubtful. [Not much used.]

SUSPECT', noun Suspicion.