suspects 1 of 2

noun

plural of suspect
as in defendants

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suspects

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of suspect
1
as in guesses
to form an opinion from little or no evidence we suspected that the runaway was a little younger than the 16 she claimed to be—more like 13

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in doubts
to have no trust or confidence in I suspected him from the moment he said he was an old friend of my sister's, since I probably would have heard about him

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of suspects
Noun
Two suspects hit several businesses in the Fairfax District early Tuesday morning, with one suspect in police custody. — Julie Sharp, CBS News, 6 May 2026 Deem fired his weapon at the suspects, but no injuries were reported, and the disturbance suspect has not been apprehended. — Jade Jackson, IndyStar, 25 Nov. 2025 One of the suspects was found guilty of first-degree murder in June 2021, among a list of other charges, while the other suspect pleaded guilty in early 2020 to 17 counts, including murder charges. — Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025
Verb
Kaula suspects a few of his colleagues were trapped in the basement. — Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026 McDowell suspects the engine fired slightly harder or longer than intended. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026 Nina Sosanya voices the local veterinarian, who discovers strange objects inside her animal patients and suspects Bigfoot is on the loose, while Bitzer sets out to find his missing master. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026 Dubrow suspects that the latest wave of online ridicule could also have consequences beyond a few bruised egos. — Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 21 Oct. 2026 Berg suspects that much of it was trolling, but the episode prompted him to change his practices. — Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Oct. 2026 Anthropic’s work even shows that internal signals can reveal when a model suspects it’s being tested, detects manipulation or is pursuing a hidden objective. — Nicola Sfondrini, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026 Laurel suspects that maybe some of the books in her library have been banned, but she’s given up trying to find out. — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026 Kamara suspects the unexplained adjustment fees account for some of the difference. — Tara Lynch, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suspects
  1. defendants
  2. guesses
  3. doubts
  4. culprits
  5. assumes
  6. questions
  7. criminals
  8. supposes
Noun
  • Attorneys for two other defendants who are not family members declined comment; a third who was also released Thursday had no attorney listed in court records.
    — Sarah Rankin, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • After a 2024 burglary at the store, two of Lucas' co-defendants claimed to Portsmouth Police that about $3,000 of marijuana products were missing.
    — Dan Mangan, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of defendants
Verb
  • Logan Wright, the author of Broken China, guesses that growth is now running at no more than 1% — and may even be zero.
    — Andy Browne, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The system consists of a predictive algorithm that guesses how a robot is broken, along with robotic manipulators that actually take the broken robot apart.
    — Kohava Mendelsohn, IEEE Spectrum, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of guesses
Verb
  • In Visakhapatnam, doubts about the approval process are compounded by Google’s partnership with the Adani Group, an Indian infrastructure conglomerate led by billionaire Gautam Adani.
    — Aakash Hassan, Christian Science Monitor, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Numerous treatise writers began to insist that anyone who doubts the diabolical empowerment of women-as-witches is self-deluded and dangerous.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of doubts
Noun
  • Researchers looked at a wide range of possible culprits behind neck pain, including demographic, occupational, lifestyle, postural, technology and psychological factors.
    — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The two-part November 13, Sonia’s Choice recounts the true story of a woman at the heart of the hunt for the culprits of the Paris terror attacks on November 13, 2015, who is now living in hiding.
    — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of culprits
Verb
  • In our example of the pond, simply comparing the number of possibilities assumes that each stone emits a wave independently.
    — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • For any executive whose roadmap assumes compute capacity coming online on schedule, that is now a line item.
    — Zev Laine, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of assumes
Verb
  • Adawag's defense attorney questions federal crackdown Adawag's attorney, Megan McLoughlin, said the case was unusual in her experience.
    — Steve Large, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • It’s built through the steady work of listening to stakeholders, delivering on promises and telling a consistent story long before anyone questions it.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of questions
Noun
  • Also protect the email account associated with your Social Security profile because criminals may target it to reset other passwords.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Ford placed the inmate’s bid for clemency on the agenda of the state pardons board — an example, Lombardo claims, of the way Ford treats criminals.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of criminals
Verb
  • Hence, any thought experiment that presupposes an AGI often supposes an ASI.
    — Geoffrey Irving, Time, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Rock* supposes there’s a fork in the road where the Beatles take us one way and the Velvet Underground pull us somewhere else entirely.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of supposes

Browse Nearby Words

suspecting
suspects
suspend
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Cite this Entry

“Suspects.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suspects. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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