suspense

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English suspense, suspence, from Anglo-Norman suspens (as in en suspens) and Old French suspens, from Latin suspēnsus.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)
  • IPA(key): /səˈspɛns/
  • Rhymes: -ɛns

Noun

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suspense (usually uncountable, plural suspenses)

  1. The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, lines 249–252; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 113:
      For thee the Fates, severely kind, ordain / A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain; / Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose; / No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.
  2. the pleasurable emotion of anticipation and excitement regarding the outcome or climax of a book, film etc.
  3. The unpleasant emotion of anxiety or apprehension in an uncertain situation.
    • 1636 (date written), John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay upon the Second Book of Virgils Æneis”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, 4th edition, London: [] [John Macock] for H[enry] Herringman [], published 1668, →OCLC:
      Ten days the prophet in suspense remain'd.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. [], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, [], →OCLC, pages 265–266:
      I believe that, to the young, suspense is the most intolerable suffering. Active misery always brings with it its own power of endurance.
  4. (law) A temporary cessation of one's right; suspension, as when the rent or other profits of land cease by unity of possession of land and rent.
  5. (US, military) A deadline.
    She sent us that assignment with a suspense of noon tomorrow.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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suspense (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Held or lifted up; held or prevented from proceeding.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      [The great light of day] suspens in heav'n.
  2. (obsolete) Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      Expectation held his look suspense.

French

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Etymology 1

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Nominalisation of the feminine form of suspens.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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suspense f (plural suspenses)

  1. suspense (state of being suspended)

Etymology 2

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Borrowed from English suspense, itself from Old French suspense. Doublet of suspens.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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suspense m (plural suspenses)

  1. suspense (emotion; feeling)
    Cet acteur a joué dans plusieurs films à suspense.
    This actor played in a lot of thrillers.

Further reading

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Galician

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Etymology

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From French suspense, from English suspense.

Noun

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suspense m (plural suspenses)

  1. suspense
  2. thriller

Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English suspense.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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suspense f (invariable)

  1. suspense (all senses)

References

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  1. ^ suspense in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Latin

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Participle

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suspēnse

  1. vocative masculine singular of suspēnsus

References

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  • suspense”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • suspense in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English suspense.

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: sus‧pen‧se

Noun

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suspense m (plural suspenses)

  1. suspense (the excited anticipation of an outcome)
  2. (fiction) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French suspense, from English suspense.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /susˈpense/ [susˈpẽn.se]
  • Rhymes: -ense
  • Syllabification: sus‧pen‧se

Noun

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suspense m (plural suspenses)

  1. (Spain) suspense
    Synonym: (Latin America) suspenso
  2. thriller

Derived terms

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Further reading

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