Adjacent Words

Suspension definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUSPEN'SION, n. [L. suspensio. See Suspend.]
1. The act of hanging up, or of causing to hang by being attached to something above.
2. The act of making to depend on any thing for existence or taking place; as the suspension of payment on the performance of a condition.
3. The act of delaying; delay; as the suspension of a criminal's execution; called a respite or reprieve.
4. Act of withholding or balancing the judgment; forbearance of determination; as the suspension of opinion, of judgment, of decision or determination. Suspension of judgment often proceeds from doubt of ignorance of facts.
5. Temporary cessation; interruption; intermission; as the suspension of labor or of study; the suspension of pain.
6. Temporary privation of powers, authority or rights; usually intended as a censure or punishment; as the suspension of an ecclesiastic or minister for some fault. This may be merely a suspension of his office, or it may be both of his office and his income. A military or naval officer's suspension takes place when he is arrested.
7. Prevention or interruption of operation; as the suspension of the habeas corpus act.
8. In rhetoric, a keeping of the bearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations.
9. In Scot's law, a stay or postponement of execution of a sentence condemnatory, by means of letters of suspension granted on application to the lord ordinary.
10. In mechanics, points of suspension, in a balance, are the points in the axis or beam where the weights are applied, or from which they are suspended.
11. In music, every sound of a chord to a given base, which is continued to another base, is a suspension.
Suspension of arms, in war, a short truce or cessation of operations agreed on by the commanders of the contending parties, as for burying the dead,making proposals for surrender or for peace, etc.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a mixture in which fine particles are suspended in a fluid where they are supported by buoyancy
2: a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something [syn: pause, intermission, break, interruption, suspension]
3: temporary cessation or suspension [syn: abeyance, suspension]
4: an interruption in the intensity or amount of something [syn: suspension, respite, reprieve, hiatus, abatement]
5: a mechanical system of springs or shock absorbers connecting the wheels and axles to the chassis of a wheeled vehicle [syn: suspension, suspension system]
6: the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely); "there was a small ceremony for the hanging of the portrait" [syn: suspension, dangling, hanging]
7: a temporary debarment (from a privilege or position etc) [syn: suspension, temporary removal]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English suspensyon, from Anglo-French suspension, from Late Latin suspension-, suspensio, from Latin suspendere Date: 15th century 1. the act of suspending ; the state or period of being suspended: as a. temporary removal (as from office or privileges) b. temporary withholding (as of belief or decision) c. temporary abrogation of a law or rule d. (1) the holding over of one or more musical tones of a chord into the following chord producing a momentary discord and suspending the concord which the ear expects; specifically such a dissonance which resolves downward — compare anticipation, retardation (2) the tone thus held over e. stoppage of payment of business obligations ; failure — used especially of a business or a bank f. a rhetorical device whereby the principal idea is deferred to the end of a sentence or longer unit 2. a. the act of hanging ; the state of being hung b. (1) the state of a substance when its particles are mixed with but undissolved in a fluid or solid (2) a substance in this state (3) a system consisting of a solid dispersed in a solid, liquid, or gas usually in particles of larger than colloidal size — compare emulsion 3. something suspended 4. the means by which something is suspended; especially the system of devices (as springs) supporting the upper part of a vehicle on the axles

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act of suspending or the condition of being suspended. 2 the means by which a vehicle is supported on its axles. 3 a substance consisting of particles suspended in a medium. 4 Mus. the prolongation of a note of a chord to form a discord with the following chord. Phrases and idioms: suspension bridge a bridge with a roadway suspended from cables supported by structures at each end. Etymology: F suspension or L suspensio (as SUSPEND)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Suspension Sus*pen"sion, n. [Cf. F. suspension, L. suspensio arched work, imperfect pronunciation. See Suspend.] 1. The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended; pendency; as, suspension from a hook. 2. Especially, temporary delay, interruption, or cessation; as: (a) Of labor, study, pain, etc. (b) Of decision, determination, judgment, etc.; as, to ask a suspension of judgment or opinion in view of evidence to be produced. (c) Of the payment of what is due; as, the suspension of a mercantile firm or of a bank. (d) Of punishment, or sentence of punishment. (e) Of a person in respect of the exercise of his office, powers, prerogative, etc.; as, the suspension of a student or of a clergyman. (f) Of the action or execution of law, etc.; as, the suspension of the habeas corpus act.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(suspensions) 1. The suspension of something is the act of delaying or stopping it for a while or until a decision is made about it. A strike by British Airways ground staff has led to the suspension of flights between London and Manchester... 2. Someone's suspension is their removal from a job or position for a period of time or until a decision is made about them. The minister warned that any civil servant not at his desk faced immediate suspension... N-VAR 3. A vehicle's suspension consists of the springs and other devices attached to the wheels, which give a smooth ride over uneven ground. N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Hanging, pendency. 2. Interruption, intermission, suspense, stay. 3. Delay, postponement. 4. Temporary deprivation (as of an office).

Moby Thesaurus

abandonment, abeyance, abjuration, abjurement, abolishment, abolition, abrogation, adaptation, afterthought, annulment, arrangement, bind, block, blockage, breach, break, breath, breather, breathing place, breathing space, breathing spell, breathing time, bureaucratic delay, caesura, cancel, canceling, cancellation, cashiering, cassation, catharsis, cease-fire, cessation, cigarette break, cleansing, clearance, cocktail hour, coffee break, cold storage, concluding, conclusion, conge, countermand, counterorder, danglement, dangling, day off, debarring, deconsecration, defeasance, deferment, defrocking, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, delaying, deliverance, denial, dependence, dependency, deportation, deposal, deposition, deprivation, desistance, detachment, detention, dethronement, disbarment, disbarring, discard, discharge, discontinuance, discontinuation, discrownment, disemployment, disenthronement, disjunction, dismissal, displacement, displacing, disposal, disposition, doldrums, dormancy, double take, downtime, dragging, drop, drumming out, ejection, elimination, emotional release, end, ending, enforced respite, eradication, eviction, exclusion, excommunication, exile, expatriation, expulsion, finish, firing, fissure, forbearance, forced resignation, forced separation, freeing, furloughing, gap, halt, hang-up, hanging, happy hour, harmonization, hesitation, hiatus, hibernation, hindrance, hold-up, holdup, holiday, immobility, impeachment, inaction, inactiveness, inactivity, inertia, instrumentation, interim, interlude, intermezzo, intermission, intermittence, interruption, interval, intonation, invalidation, jam, kicking upstairs, lacuna, lag, lagging, lapse, latency, layoff, letup, liquidation, logjam, lull, modulation, moratorium, motionlessness, nonexercise, nullification, obstruction, orchestration, ostracism, ousting, outlawing, outlawry, overthrow, overthrowal, paperasserie, pause, pendency, pendulosity, pendulousness, pensileness, pensility, pensioning off, period, phrasing, pink slip, postponement, preparation, purgation, purge, purging, quiescence, quiescency, recall, recantation, recess, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, rejection, release, relinquishment, remission, removal, renege, renouncement, renunciation, repeal, reprieve, rescinding, rescindment, rescission, resignation, resolution, respite, rest, retardance, retardation, retirement, retraction, reversal, revocation, revoke, revokement, riddance, setting, setting aside, severance, slow-up, slowdown, slowness, solution, spell, stand-down, stay, stay of execution, stop, stoppage, superannuation, surcease, surplusing, suspense, tea break, termination, the ax, the boot, the bounce, the gate, the sack, ticket, tie-up, time lag, time out, tone painting, transcription, truce, unchurching, underactivity, unfrocking, unseating, vacation, vacatur, voidance, voiding, wait, waiver, waiving, walking papers, withdrawal, write-off