SUSPICIOUS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not as expected

Example:

suspicious behavior

Synonyms:

fishy; funny; shady; suspect; suspicious

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

questionable (subject to question)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Derivation:

suspiciousness (being of a suspicious nature)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Openly distrustful and unwilling to confide

Synonyms:

leery; mistrustful; suspicious; untrusting; wary

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

distrustful (having or showing distrust)

Derivation:

suspicion (doubt about someone's honesty)

suspiciousness (being of a suspicious nature)

Credits

Context examples:

“Don’t drop the instruments, I beg. Your arrest as a suspicious character would be a most unfortunate complication.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Lucy here looked up; but Elinor was careful in guarding her countenance from every expression that could give her words a suspicious tendency.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

That would be unlikely — and suspicious — enough.

(The Super-Earth that Came Home for Dinner, NASA)

"And who is Admiral Croft?" was Sir Walter's cold suspicious inquiry.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A biopsy is the only test that can tell for sure if a suspicious area is cancer.

(Biopsy, NIH)

A surgical procedure in which an entire lump or suspicious area is removed for diagnosis.

(Excisional biopsy, NCI Dictionary)

Oh, only on the other side, he added, as though divining the suspicious glance I flung at his left leg, the knee of which had just then drawn up, and elevated the blankets.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

How cheerful, how animated, how suspicious, how busy their imaginations all are!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He cashed the first check with the suspicious Portuguese grocer, paying a dollar on account and dividing the remaining two dollars between the baker and the fruit store.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When the engagement was for home, some of the officers always made part of it—of which officers Mr. Wickham was sure to be one; and on these occasions, Mrs. Gardiner, rendered suspicious by Elizabeth's warm commendation, narrowly observed them both.