suspiciousness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /səˈspɪʃəsnəs/ UK /səˈspɪʃəsnəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of arousing distrust, or a tendency to distrust others

His evasive answers only deepened the inspector's suspiciousness.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of arousing... distrust wariness mistrust skepticism misgiving doubt

Opposites

trust trustfulness confidence

Word family

Related forms suspicious suspicion suspect

Etymology

From suspicious (from Old French suspecious, from Latin suspiciosus, from suspicere 'to mistrust', from sub- + specere 'to look') plus -ness.

suspiciosus Latin specere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# suspiciousness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** səˈspɪʃəsnəs
**IPA (UK):** səˈspɪʃəsnəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of arousing distrust, or a tendency to distrust others

## Examples
- His evasive answers only deepened the inspector's suspiciousness.

## Synonyms
- distrust
- wariness
- mistrust
- skepticism
- misgiving
- doubt

## Antonyms
- trust
- trustfulness
- confidence

## Related Forms
- suspicious
- suspicion
- suspect

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: suspiciosus
- Root: specere

## Etymology
From suspicious (from Old French suspecious, from Latin suspiciosus, from suspicere 'to mistrust', from sub- + specere 'to look') plus -ness.

## AI Etymology
Suspiciousness is from suspicious (from Old French suspecious, from Latin suspiciosus, from suspicere 'to mistrust', from sub- + specere 'to look') plus -ness. Important recorded forms include suspiciosus (Latin) and specere (Latin). Morphologically, the sub- element contributes the sense of under, below, secondary status, or movement from beneath, with the base naming the field of application. The modern sense is largely compositional, with the historical elements narrowing into a stable English lexical item. In current use it covers the quality of arousing distrust, or a tendency to distrust others. The wider family includes related words such as suspicious, suspicion, and suspect.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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suspiciousness

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