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
Eaton suspects Parton wouldn’t have issued instructions for copying her routine. — Angela Haupt, Time, 26 Aug. 2026 As a result, Kaspersky suspects the ultimate goal was to use the infected head units to display ads and faking interactions with them to commit online ad fraud. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 21 Aug. 2026 But a cousin suspects foul play and wants further investigation. — ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026 Trafford suspects the next new signing at Leeds will generate the same kind of excitement, the next dopamine hit. — Beren Cross, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2026 Anna suspects the grave is for Sarah, Jake’s wife and the mother of his kids. — Sabrina Reed, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026 But no one suspects Becca, who walks away with an additional seven points, leaping from a tie for last place (with Izzy and Erika) to a clean win, and the fanciest, courtliest, most butterfly-est wig of them all. — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2026 One of his personal highlights was Mark Pellington’s 1999 political thriller Arlington Road, starring Jeff Bridges as a history professor who suspects his neighbor, played by Tim Robbins, of being involved in an anti-government extremist movement. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 7 Aug. 2026 In conversation with Withers, one suspects that the meditation has taken effect. — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 4 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suspects
  1. defendants
  2. guesses
  3. doubts
  4. culprits
  5. assumes
  6. questions
  7. criminals
  8. supposes
Noun
  • The defendants’ decision not to question a witness did not amount to carrying out the agreements, the government argued, because the agreements did not require that action and the defendants had not withdrawn their pending motions.
    — Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Under Schrama's 11-page order, Mohammed and three co-defendants — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali — will stand trial starting on June 5, 2028.
    — Steve Gorman, USA Today, 27 Aug. 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
  • Meta could introduce technical solutions, like automatically blurring faces, as Google does in Street View images, but Szydlowski doubts Meta would voluntarily make such a privacy-conscious change without regulatory or public pressure.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The Israeli government said in a message in English that conversations were deep and constructive, while a message in Hebrew, attributed to an anonymous Israeli official, emphasized disagreements and said that Israel doubts Hamas will disarm.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of doubts
Noun
  • Over the years, culprits have ranged from El Niño and climate change to the World Trade Organization, rock ‘n’ roll music and the fluoridation of water.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian and Stephen Henriques, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Dakik flagged artificial sweeteners and excess caffeine as culprits.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of culprits
Verb
  • And although Engwe advertises a 55-mile maximum range, that figure assumes ideal conditions.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The committee’s analysis assumes Trump continued to hold the positions disclosed at the end of last year.
    — Luke Fountain, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of assumes
Verb
  • Still, most Republicans are not flocking to Ossoff, as Collins tries to tie him to the far-left of the party and questions his experience.
    — Sam Gringlas, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Mayor Karen Bass questions the progress and said that city personnel were inside the warehouse earlier today and that food waste remains.
    — Julie Sharp, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of questions
Noun
  • Throughout the bar are blurbs of information on cases and criminals, researched by Rose and the team.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2026
  • When criminals are behind bars, their victims should finally be safe from them.
    — Caden Perry, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of criminals
Verb
  • But that view wrongly supposes that Abundance was meant to be its own electoral lane.
    — Ryder Kessler, New York Daily News, 26 July 2026
  • Of course, this pre-supposes that Salah looks to leave Europe this summer as a free agent.
    — Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 15 July 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 1 Sep. 2026.

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