soupçon

See also: soupcon

English

Alternative forms

• soupcon

Etymology

From French soupçon. Doublet of suspection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suːpˈsɒn/, /suːpˈsɒ̃/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒn

Noun

soupçon (plural soupçons)

1. A very small amount; a hint; a trace, slight idea; an inkling.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum

   Add a soupçon of red pepper.

   coffee with a soupçon of cognac

   No one is so depraved that a soupçon of goodness cannot be found in them.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 21:

     Henrietta, her niece, looked much prettier than she really was; she had good dark eyes, to which a soupçon of rouge, put on with such skill that few suspected it, gave all possible brightness.

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, “The Stanhopes at Home”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 259:

     Eleanor returned the pressure of the other's hand with an infinitesimal soupçon of a squeeze.

   • 1906, Baroness Orczy, chapter VI, in I Will Repay‎^[1], London: Greening & Co, page 88:

     […] and as he spoke, there was just a soupçon of foreign accent in the pronunciation of the French vowels, a certain drawl of o's and a's, that would have betrayed the Britisher to an observant ear.

   • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 1, page 92:

     Anthony was playing with an ancient tennis-ball, and he bounced it carefully on the floor several times before he answered with a soupçon of acidity:
     “You're a little idiot, Geraldine.”

   • 2023 December 8, Jennifer Senior, “What Will Happen to the American Psyche If Trump Is Reelected?”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     There were times, during the first two years of the Biden presidency, when I came close to forgetting about it all: the taunts and the provocations; the incitements and the resentments; the disorchestrated reasoning; the verbal incontinence; the press conferences fueled by megalomania, vengeance, and a soupçon of hydroxychloroquine.

2. (dated) A suspicion; a suggestion.

Translations

very small amount — see modicum

suspicion, suggestion — see suspicion

References

• “soupçon” at Wordnik

Anagrams

• coupons, uncoops

French

Etymology

From the Old French sospeçon, inherited from the Latin suspectiōnem. Not a doublet of suspicion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sup.sɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Noun

soupçon m (plural soupçons)

1. suspicion; mistrust
2. a hint, a tad, a little bit (of something)

   Synonym: zeste

   ajoute un soupçon de cannelle

   add a hint of cinnamon

Derived terms

• au-dessus de tout soupçon
• soupçonner

Related terms

• soupçonnable
• soupçonneux

Descendants

• → English: soupçon

Further reading

• “soupçon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• coupons