suspense

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English suspense, also suspence,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman suspens, in the phrase en suspens (“in abeyance”) (1306), with Old French suspense (“delay, deferment”),^[4][5][2][6] representing Medieval Latin suspēnsum (“deferment, uncertainty”),^[4][7][8] the noun use of the neuter of suspēnsus (“hung up; doubtful”), past participle of suspendō (“to hang up, suspend”),^{[4][5][3][7][9]} the source of suspend.^[3][10] Klein takes the English noun as drawn from the phrase in suspense, translating the French one.^[9] The Anglo-Norman noun, recorded from 1307, meant a suspension or temporary cancellation.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In legal language, abeyance, the state of not being carried out or paid, especially in the phrase in suspense: 1402, in the writings of Hoccleve, according to Barnhart;^[2] the OED's first record is from 1421, in Hoccleve's Learn to Die.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline suggests that the sense of mental uncertainty grew out of the legal one, through the idea of waiting for a decision or of a mind held suspended.^[5] It is recorded from about 1440, in John Capgrave's Life of Saint Katherine, for a state of uncertain and usually anxious waiting for a decision.^[4][2] The general sense "state of being suspended or undetermined", as in to keep in suspense, followed in 1560,^[4][5] while the older senses of temporary cessation and of delay died out in the 18th and early 19th centuries.^[4] The word's use for the pleasurable excitement of waiting for the outcome of a story is now one of its main senses,^[12][13][8] and Etymonline dates suspense as the name of a genre of fiction to 1951.^[5] The adjective suspense, uncertain or hanging, was used from about 1440 but is now rare,^[4][6] and in US Army jargon a suspense is the time allowed to complete a task.^[14]

Timeline

• 1402 – abeyance, in legal use (Barnhart).^[2]
• 1421 – in suspense, not carried out or paid (the OED's first record).^[4]
• c. 1440 – anxious uncertainty while waiting for a decision.^[4][2]
• 1560 – the state of being kept undetermined.^[4][5]
• 1584 – temporary cessation (obsolete by 1806).^[4]
• 1951 – a genre of fiction (Etymonline).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A state of anxious or excited uncertainty while waiting for something to be decided or to happen: The jury kept everyone in suspense for three days.^{[12][13][8][4]}
2. The pleasurable excitement and anticipation created by an uncertain outcome, as in a thriller or mystery.^[12][13][8]
3. The state of being undecided or doubtful.^[12][8][4]
4. (law) Temporary cessation or suspension, as of a legal right.^[13][6][4]

Word family

• suspenseful
• suspensefully
• suspensefulness
• suspenseless
• suspenser
• suspensive
• suspensory
• suspense account

Related words

• suspend
• suspension

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge