v. sus·pend·ed, sus·pend·ing, sus·pends v.tr. 1. To bar for a period from a privilege, office, or position, usually as a punishment: suspend a student from school. 2. To cause to stop for a period; interrupt: suspended the trial. 3. b. To render temporarily ineffective: suspend a jail sentence; suspend all parking regulations. 4. Music To hold or prolong (a note or notes) in suspension. 5. a. To hang so as to allow free movement: suspended the mobile from the ceiling. b. To support or keep from falling without apparent attachment, as by buoyancy: The manatee is suspended in the water. c. Chemistry To disperse or put (particles, for example) in suspension. v.intr. Idiom: 1. To cease for a period; delay. 2. To fail to make payments or meet obligations. suspend disbelief To accept as plausible something one knows to be untrue, especially the setting and plot of a drama or fiction so as to allow the appreciation of art. [Middle English suspenden, from Old French suspendre, from Latin suspendere : sub-, from below; see SUB- + pendere, to hang; see (s)pen- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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