the.com/suspect
Innocent until proven guilty, but the handcuffs rarely wait for the verdict.
means To believe something is probably true or that someone is probably guilty, usually without full proof — or, as a noun, the person under that cloud of doubt.
from From Latin 'suspectus', the past participle of 'suspicere', meaning 'to look up at' or 'to look at from below' — built from 'sub-' (under) and 'specere' (to look). The image is of glancing up at someone sideways, that wary upward squint of distrust. It slipped into English through Old French in the medieval period, carrying that same uneasy gaze with it.
- latin roots
- From suspicere, meaning to look up at, to mistrust
- usual suspects
- Casablanca's line became a noir cliché overnight
- prime status
- Police rank suspects by motive, means, opportunity
- sketch artists
- Faces drawn from memory, often wildly wrong
- adjective too
- A suspect alibi smells worse than a guilty one
richard jewell — 1996 atlanta olympics bombing—wrongly identified as bomber, later exonerated
amanda knox — 2007 perugia murder case—convicted then acquitted of killing roommate meredith kercher
steven avery — making a murderer subject—convicted 2007 of wisconsin murder, maintained innocence