Meaning of suspense in English

suspense

/səˈspens/ uk

/səˈspens/

the feeling of excitement or nervousness that you have when you are waiting for something to happen and are uncertain about what it is going to be:

She kept him in suspense for several days before she said that she would marry him.

The suspense is killing me (= I am extremely eager to know what is going to happen).

There is a gradual build-up of suspense throughout the picture, until it comes to an unexpected ending.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Excitement, interest, energy and enthusiasm

alacrity
animation
ardor
avidity
boosterism
commotion
flirtation
frenzy
friskiness
frisson
frolic
get a buzz out of something/doing something
hubbub
page-turner
pep
perkiness
physicality
piquancy
whirl
zealousness

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Anxiety and worry - general words

(Definition of suspense from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

suspense | Intermediate English

suspense

noun [ U ]

/səˈspens/

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a feeling of excitement or anxiety while waiting for something uncertain to happen:

The suspense of waiting for her answer nearly drove him crazy.

(Definition of suspense from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of suspense

suspense

The film was well-made, it had a lot of drama and suspense.

From CNN

At that point, she tried her hand at suspense writing.

From CNBC

Hertz is no stranger to the gut-clenching, breath-holding suspense of having your show picked up but not scheduled.

From Hollywood Reporter

However, being onto something and writing a good suspense-thriller about current events can be two very different things.

From Wired

It's that moment of suspense, the second before the bogeyman is revealed, that is the most gripping.

From The Atlantic

But the creators want to be careful to balance substance and suspense -- or at least to somewhat disguise the former.

From Los Angeles Times

There will be some suspense because we are going to have this unveiling, so maybe we better just better leave it at that.

From Plain Dealer

For decades, his works of horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have terrified and delighted audiences around the world.

From NPR

Yet these restrained scares worked; they piled on the suspense.

From A.V. Club

No suspense over whether he would make the cut.

From The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

The suspense would only be which one, and how would it play out.

From Huffington Post

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of suspense?

Translations of suspense

in Chinese (Traditional)

懸念，焦慮，擔心…

in Chinese (Simplified)

悬念，焦虑，担心…

in Spanish

suspense, incertidumbre, suspense [masculine…

in Portuguese

suspense, suspense [masculine]…

in more languages

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उत्कंठा, वाट पहायला लावणे…

（期待で）うずうず（どきどき・そわそわ）する気持ち, サスペンス…

merak, merakla bekleme, belirsizlik durumu…

suspense [masculine], expectative [feminine], angoisse…

suspens, incertesa…

spanning…

நீங்கள் ஏதாவது நடக்கக் காத்திருக்கும் போது, அது என்னவாக இருக்கும் என்று நிச்சயமற்ற நிலையில் இருக்கும் போது உங்களுக்கு ஏற்படும் உற்சாகம் அல்லது பதட்ட உணர்வு…

सस्पेंस, कुतूहलपूर्ण उत्कट या जिज्ञासापूर्ण रोमांच की अनुभूति, असमंजस या संशय…

રહસ્ય…

spænding…

ovisshet, spänd förväntan…

keadaan tegang…

die Ungewissheit…