suspicious

adjective sus·pi·cious \ sə-ˈspi-shəs \

Definition of suspicious

1 :tending to arouse suspicion :questionable

suspicious characters

2 :disposed to suspect :distrustful

suspicious of strangers

3 :expressing or indicative of suspicion

a suspicious glance

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suspiciously

adverb

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suspiciousness

noun

See suspicious defined for English-language learners

See suspicious defined for kids

Examples of suspicious in a Sentence

We were instructed to report any suspicious activity in the neighborhood.
The suspicious vehicle was reported to police.
Suspicious characters were seen hanging around the bank.
He found a suspicious lump on his back and was afraid it might be cancer.
Officials are suspicious about her death.
His manner made me suspicious.

Recent Examples of suspicious from the Web

The restaurant owners at Mrs Winner’s called police when the pair began to act suspicious after a string of robberies at other fast-food restaurants. - At the time of the murders, Blakely was the youngest woman in Georgia to face the death penalty.

— ashley stoney, Essence.com, "Who Is The Real Falicia Blakely? Here Are Six Things To Know," 29 Aug. 2017
Armed members of these groups frequently maintain roadblocks and, although not considered hostile to foreigners or tourists, are suspicious of outsiders and should be considered volatile and unpredictable.

— leada gore, AL.com, "Mexico travel warning: State Department cautions tourists about violence in Cancun, Cozumel and more," 24 Aug. 2017
Look for suspicious devices that may mimic the real device.

— sarah lane, Washington Post, "Prince William County news in brief," 20 Aug. 2017
And now that Russians aren’t just suspicious, but actively meddling in American elections, Soviet bad guys aren’t just topical—

— ella donald, HWD, "From Russia, With Love: the Sudden Resurgence of the Soviet Villain," 28 July 2017
While still under investigation, the death is not considered suspicious at this time.

— lauren matthews, Country Living, "'Home Alone' Star John Heard Dies at 71," 22 July 2017
If the White House knew about this and said nothing, that looks suspicious.

— aaron blake, Washington Post, "Why did Trump meet secretly with Putin? Here are three theories.," 19 July 2017
In a statement, the hospital said that a suspicious mass was found on Liu’s liver in a checkup on May 31, and he was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer that had already metastasized throughout his body.

— ting shi, Bloomberg.com, "China's Jailed Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo Dies From Cancer," 13 July 2017
A large office building in the heart of downtown Coral Gables was evacuated late Friday afternoon after a bank robbery and after police found a suspicious package nearby.

— charles rabin, miamiherald, "Bank robbery, suspicious package causes evacuation of downtown Coral Gables building," 7 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'suspicious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of suspicious

14th century

suspicious Synonyms

SUSPICIOUS Defined for English Language Learners

suspicious

adjective

Definition of suspicious for English Language Learners

: causing a feeling that something is wrong or that someone is behaving wrongly : causing suspicion
: having or showing a feeling that something is wrong or that someone is behaving wrongly : feeling or showing suspicion