Suspectus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To regard someone with doubt or mistrust as potentially guilty or responsible ; to have an inkling or suspicion about something being wrong or suspicious ; a person believed to be likely involved in a wrongdoing or crime
2. To consider or think of a person or situation as questionable or dubious ; to entertain a belief that something is untrue or deceptive ; an individual who is thought to be connected to illegal or improper activity
3. To hold an attitude of uncertainty or disbelief towards an individual or matter ; to entertain a notion that something may be improper or false ; a figure identified as possibly culpable or implicated in suspicious circumstances

Etymology: The Latin verb "suspicere" literally meant "to look up at," built from "sub" ("from below") and "specere" ("to look"). Its participle, "suspectus," carried the sense of an object that had been looked at askance, and from there it came to mean "mistrusted" or "viewed with suspicion." The meaning rests on the idea of watching someone sideways or from underneath, rather than on any notion of evidence. As a noun, "suspectus" means a person who is regarded with suspicion, and it is the source of the English "suspect." English took the word through French, where the participle "suspect" was used in the same way, so the English noun reflects a participle turned into a substantive, not a direct borrowing of a Latin noun.

Synonyms: suspect, accused

Antonyms: innocent