Library / English Dictionary

SUSPEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to be held in suspension in a fluid

Example:

suspend the particles

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

resuspend (put back into suspension)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They suspend the lights from the ceiling

Derivation:

suspension (the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely))

suspension (a mixture in which fine particles are suspended in a fluid where they are supported by buoyancy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

Example:

Suspend the aid to the war-torn country

Synonyms:

freeze; suspend

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

break; interrupt (terminate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

suspension (an interruption in the intensity or amount of something)

suspension (temporary cessation or suspension)

suspension (a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make inoperative or stop

Example:

suspend payments on the loan

Synonyms:

set aside; suspend

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Hang freely

Example:

The secret police suspended their victims from the ceiling and beat them

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

hang; hang up (cause to be hanging or suspended)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

dangle (cause to dangle or hang freely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

suspender (elastic straps that hold trousers up (usually used in the plural))

suspension (the act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Bar temporarily; from school, office, etc.

Synonyms:

debar; suspend

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

expel; kick out; throw out (force to leave or move out)

"Suspend" entails doing...:

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suspend"):

rusticate; send down (suspend temporarily from college or university, in England)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

suspension (a temporary debarment (from a privilege or position etc))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Render temporarily ineffective

Example:

the prison sentence was suspended

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "suspend" is one way to...):

defer; hold over; postpone; prorogue; put off; put over; remit; set back; shelve; table (hold back to a later time)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Agnes had listened at first with suspended breath.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In a room without a window, there burnt a fire guarded by a high and strong fender, and a lamp suspended from the ceiling by a chain.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The substance in an emulsion that is suspended or dispersed within another substance of greater volume.

(Dispersed Phase, NCI Thesaurus)

A technique for counting, examining and sorting microscopic particles suspended in a stream of fluid.

(Flow cytometry, NCI Thesaurus)

A process that removes water or volatile solvents using large volumes of hot air to suspend a bed of solids.

(Fluid Bed Drying Method, NCI Thesaurus)

An instrument that is able to count and sort microscopic particles suspended in a buffer.

(Flow Cytometer, NCI Thesaurus)

Why, the ordinary laws of Nature are suspended.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the purpose of examination.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A storm of tiny dust particles has engulfed much of Mars over the last two weeks and prompted NASA’s Opportunity rover to suspend science operations.

(Martian Dust Storm Grows Global: Curiosity Captures Photos of Thickening Haze, NASA)

Scientists have been looking for potential explanations other than clouds, and aerosols - solid particles suspended in the atmosphere - could be one.

(Cooking up Alien Atmospheres on Earth, NASA)