suspense
/səˈspɛns
/noun [mass noun]
1A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen: come on, Fran, don’t keep me in suspense!...
- I was sitting in suspense wondering what exactly had happened.
- The crowd is in suspense, wondering how things will go for the dog.
- Until then, you'll just have to live in suspense.
Synonyms
eagerly, agog, all agog, with bated breath, on tenterhooks, avid, excited, on edge, open-mouthed, anxious, edgy, jittery, jumpy, keyed up, overwrought, uneasy, worried
informal uptight, waiting for the axe to fall
1.1A quality in a work of fiction that arouses excited expectation or uncertainty about what may happen: a tale of mystery and suspense...
- I let out a heavy sigh and thought hard for a few seconds, unable to register anything except comic books and fiction suspense novels.
- Even though it's riddled with melodrama, this is still a high quality internal affairs suspense thriller.
- The mystery of these implicit questions heightens the novel's suspense.
Synonyms
tension, uncertainty, doubt, doubtfulness, anticipation, expectation, expectancy, excitement, anxiety, nervousness, apprehension, apprehensiveness, strain
2chiefly Law The temporary cessation or suspension of something.The Applicant has set in motion an appeal from the disciplinary panel to an appeal panel but that appeal has been put into suspense by reason of his application for judicial review.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French suspens 'abeyance', based on Latin suspensus 'suspended, hovering, doubtful', past participle of suspendere (see suspend).