suspecting
- 1Present participle and gerund of suspect.
The detective grew uneasy, suspecting that the witness was hiding something.
Suspecting fraud, the bank froze the account pending a full review.
Note
The -ing form does two jobs. As a participle it builds the progressive (she was suspecting nothing) and opens clauses that give a reason, as in suspecting fraud, the bank acted. As a gerund it behaves like a noun: suspecting a friend is painful. Either way it keeps the verb's objects: a that-clause when the meaning is supposing something true, a plain noun when it is distrusting someone or believing them guilty.
suspecting is a form of suspect
suspect, verb: To imagine or suppose that something is true or exists, without having proof. Full entry
- Spelling
- suspect → suspecting: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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