Meaning of suspend in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /səˈspɛnd/

    US accent Play button

    UK accent Play button

  1. Verb

    suspend

    Etymology

    Middle English: from Old French suspendre or Latin suspendere, from sub-‘from below’ + pendere‘hang’

    Definitions

    1. hang freely

    Examples

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

    Derived terms

  2. 2. cause to be held in suspension in a fluid

    Examples

    • « suspend the particles »

    Derived terms

  3. 3. bar temporarily

    Examples

    • « from school, office, etc. »

    Derived terms

  4. 4. stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

    Examples

    • « Suspend the aid to the war-torn country »

    Derived terms

  5. 5. make inoperative or stop

    Examples

    • « suspend payments on the loan »
  6. 6. as of a prison sentence

Famous quotes

  • « To engage with art, we have to be willing to be wrong, venture outside our psychic comfort zones, suspend disbelief, and remember that art explores and alters consciousness simultaneously. »
    Jerry Saltz
  • « Cowardice... is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend functioning of the imagination. »
    Ernest Hemingway

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