What does suspicious mean?

Definitions for suspicious
səˈspɪʃ əssus·pi·cious

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word suspicious.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. leery, mistrustful, suspicious, untrusting, waryadjective

    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide

  2. fishy, funny, shady, suspect, suspiciousadjective

    not as expected

    "there was something fishy about the accident"; "up to some funny business"; "some definitely queer goings-on"; "a shady deal"; "her motives were suspect"; "suspicious behavior"

Wiktionary

  1. suspiciousadjective

    Arousing suspicion.

    His suspicious behaviour brought him to the attention of the police.

  2. suspiciousadjective

    distrustful or tending to suspect.

    I have a suspicious attitude to get-rich-quick schemes.

  3. suspiciousadjective

    Expressing suspicion

    She gave me a suspicious look.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Suspiciousadjective

    Etymology: suspiciosus, Latin.

    Nature itself, after it has done an injury, will for ever be suspicious, and no man can love the person he suspects. Robert South, Sermons.

    A wise man will find us to be rogues by our faces; we have a suspicious, fearful, constrained countenance, often turning and slinking through narrow lanes. Jonathan Swift.

    They, because the light of his candle too much drowned theirs, were glad to lay hold on so colourable matter, and exceeding forward to traduce him as an author of suspicious innovations. Richard Hooker.

    I spy a black suspicious threat’ning cloud,
    That will encounter with our glorious sun. William Shakespeare.

    Authors are suspicious, nor greedily to be swallowed, who pretend to deliver antipathies, sympathies, and the occult abstrusities of things. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours.

    His life
    Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,
    Little suspicious to any king. John Milton.

    Many mischievous insects are daily at work, to make people of merit suspicious of each other. Alexander Pope.

ChatGPT

  1. suspicious

    Suspicious refers to eliciting or indicative of suspicion, often characterized by doubt, skepticism, or mistrust. It can relate to a person, action, or circumstance that seems unusual, questionable, strange, or not as it appears, prompting one to believe that something wrong or illegal may be happening.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Suspiciousadjective

    inclined to suspect; given or prone to suspicion; apt to imagine without proof

  2. Suspiciousadjective

    indicating suspicion, mistrust, or fear

  3. Suspiciousadjective

    liable to suspicion; adapted to raise suspicion; giving reason to imagine ill; questionable; as, an author of suspicious innovations; suspicious circumstances

British National Corpus

  1. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'suspicious' in Adjectives Frequency: #813

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce suspicious?

How to say suspicious in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of suspicious in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of suspicious in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of suspicious in a Sentence

  1. Robbie Abell:

    The questions he was asking were not the normal questions a normal person would be asking. If something is suspicious, it’s our discretion, we are the gatekeeper. Federal investigators say that in the week before he murdered dozens people and wounded more than 50 others at the Pulse nighclub in Orlando, Mateen visited another gun shop, where he purchased a pistol and a.223 SIG Sauer semiautomatic rifle. Authorities are still trying to determine the motives behind the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The Justice Department released the full transcript of Mateen’s 911 call on the night of the massacre Monday. In his 50-second call to police he claimed responsibility for the terror attack and pledged allegiance to Islamic State’s leader. The summary shows that Mateen told negotiators he had a vehicle outside that has some bombs. Just to let you know. You people are gon na get it, and I'm gon na ignite it if they try to do anything stupid. Mateen claimed he had an explosive vest similar to the kind used by terrorists in France, referencing the November terror attack in Paris. In the next few days, you're going to see more of this type of action going on, Mateen said. He also reportedly told hostages that he would put suicide vests on them. No explosives were ever found on Mateen inside the club or in any vehicles outside. Mateen was armed with two guns during the rampage. Despite claims by the administration and law enforcement officials that ISIS did not direct Mateen to carry out the attack, Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday used the massacre as an example of why the terror group must be defeated.

  2. Jeremy Corbyn:

    If this is a sign of things to come in this election, I feel very nervous about it all because a cyber attack against a political party in an election is suspicious and something one is very worried about.

  3. Eric Abramovitz:

    It was scary to even confront that thought given how much I trusted her, but over time it started to sink in and I became more and more suspicious that maybe she had done it, as unpleasant as it was to imagine.

  4. Phillip Gimino:

    Where there's suspicious activity, it would help the police, but it should be limited.

  5. Carole Baskin:

    I was suspicious as we were doing it because the questions appeared taped. But had no idea it would turn out to be such a fun prank, it gave us a very welcome good laugh. I appreciate their cleverness and that they created their video in a way that I don't feel was in any way mean spirited.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

suspicious#10000#13890#100000

Translations for suspicious

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"suspicious." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 15 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/suspicious>.

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