suspense

• suspence (obsolete)

From Anglo-Norman suspens as in en suspens, from Old French suspens.

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• IPA^(key): /səˈspɛns/
• Rhymes: -ɛns

suspense (usually uncountable, plural suspenses)

1. The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time.
   • Alexander Pope

     a cool suspense from pleasure and from pain

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.
   • Denham

     Ten days the prophet in suspense remained.

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.

• suspenseful

• cliffhanger
• tenterhook

suspense (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Held or lifted up; held or prevented from proceeding.
   • Milton

     [The great light of day] suspense in heaven.

2. (obsolete) Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt.
   • Milton

     Expectation held his look suspense.

Nominalisation of the feminine form of suspens.

• IPA^(key): /sys.pɑ̃s/

suspense f (plural suspenses)

1. suspense (state of being suspended)

Borrowed from English suspense, itself from Old French.

• IPA^(key): /sys.pɛns/

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.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• “suspense” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

French suspense, from English.

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. suspense
2. thriller

Borrowed from English suspense.

suspense f (invariable)

1. suspense (all senses)

suspense

1. vocative masculine singular of suspensus

• 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

suspense m (plural suspenses)

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

French suspense, from English.

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. suspense
2. thriller