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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
suspense
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
keep...in suspense
▪ Don’t keep us in suspense any longer!
The suspense is killing me
▪ What happened next? The suspense is killing me.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
romantic
▪ Not always easy to categorize, her books combine gothic and romantic suspense elements often with historical settings.
▪ A contemporary story of mystery and romantic suspense of a woman who returns home to die and ends up learning to love.
▪ Her most recent books have been more in the romantic suspense vein than the gothic.
▪ A psychologically oriented tale of romantic suspense.
▪ Compare the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart with the international espionage tales of Ian Fleming.
■ NOUN
novel
▪ It is the suspense novel, a type more easily recognised than defined.
▪ If this notion suits you temperamentally, then try producing this sort of suspense novel.
▪ Compare the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart with the international espionage tales of Ian Fleming.
▪ Romantic suspense novels are escape novels.
story
▪ The suspense story of the Napoleonic Monkey was familiar, of course.
▪ Hot or not: Good cast, good creative team; a suspense story about political corruption always seems to be topical.
▪ Similarly, Mary Stewart produces suspense stories with equally strong mystery and romance plotlines.
■ VERB
bear
▪ There was a silence, and, unable to bear the suspense any longer, she raised her eyes.
▪ I could not bear suspense of any kind.
▪ Unable to bear the suspense, she hurried down into the hall.
▪ When I could bear the suspense no longer, I posed the final, and most significant question to her.
▪ I must have waited several minutes, I should have known but I couldn't bear the suspense.
keep
▪ So let's not keep you in suspense and join Katie prior to her departure from a surprising location for international flight.
▪ The play is constructed in such a way as to keep the audience in suspense until the very end.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ It is a classic story of love and suspense.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A story of love and suspense set in the South Seas.
▪ After 2 days' paddling and considerable suspense at last we reached the three corner point with Czechoslovakia/Hungary.
▪ At least it would end the awful suspense.
▪ It is the suspense novel, a type more easily recognised than defined.
▪ Sovereignty is never held in suspense.
▪ The suspense is cut through when he walks out on them.
▪ The country was tense with suspense.
▪ The play is constructed in such a way as to keep the audience in suspense until the very end.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Suspense

Suspense \Sus*pense"\, a. [F. suspens, L. suspensus, p. p. of suspendere. See Suspend.]

  1. Held or lifted up; held or prevented from proceeding.

    [The great light of day] suspense in heaven.
    --Milton.

  2. Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt. [Obs.] ``Expectation held his look suspense.''
    --Milton.

Suspense

Suspense \Sus*pense"\, n. [From F. suspens, a. See Suspense, a.]

  1. The state of being suspended; specifically, a state of uncertainty and expectation, with anxiety or apprehension; indetermination; indecision; as, the suspense of a person waiting for the verdict of a jury.

    Ten days the prophet in suspense remained.
    --Denham.

    Upon the ticklish balance of suspense.
    --Cowper.

  2. Cessation for a time; stop; pause.

    A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain.
    --Pope.

  3. [Cf. F. suspense.] (Law) A temporary cessation of one's right; suspension, as when the rent or other profits of land cease by unity of possession of land and rent.

    Suspense account (Bookkeeping), an account in which receipts or disbursements are temporarily entered until their proper position in the books is determined.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
suspense

c.1400, "abeyance, temporary cessation; state of not being carried out" (of legal matters), from Anglo-French suspens (in en suspens "in abeyance," c.1300), Old French sospense "delay, deferment (of judgement), act of suspending," from Latin suspensus, past participle of suspendere "to hang up; interrupt" (see suspend). Meaning "state of mental uncertainty with more or less anxiety" (mid-15c.) is from legal meaning, perhaps via notion of "awaiting an expected decision," or from "state of having the mind or thoughts suspended." As a genre of novels, stories, etc., attested from 1951.

Wiktionary
suspense

a. 1 (context obsolete English) Held or lifted up; held or prevented from proceeding. 2 (context obsolete English) Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt. n. 1 The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time. 2 the pleasurable emotion of anticipation and excitement regarding the outcome or climax of a book, film etc. 3 The unpleasant emotion of anxiety or apprehension in an uncertain situation. 4 (context legal English) A temporary cessation of one's right; suspension, as when the rent or other profits of land cease by unity of possession of land and rent.

WordNet
suspense
  1. n. apprehension about what is going to happen

  2. an uncertain cognitive state; "the matter remained in suspense for several years"

  3. excited anticipation of an approaching climax; "the play kept the audience in suspense"

Wikipedia
Suspense (radio drama)

Suspense is a radio drama series broadcast on CBS Radio from 1942 through 1962.

Suspense (1946 film)

Suspense is a 1946 film noir directed by Frank Tuttle. The ice-skating-themed movie starred Barry Sullivan and former Olympic skater Belita, who would team up again with Sullivan in 1947 for the film, The Gangster. It was also the last film appearance of actor Eugene Pallette. At a cost of 1.1 million dollars, it was considered the most expensive film put out by Monogram Pictures.

Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction. It may operate whenever there is a perceived suspended drama or a chain of cause is left in doubt, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation.

In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. Films having a lot of suspense belong in the thriller genre.

In broader definition of suspense, this emotion arises when someone is aware of his lack of knowledge about the development of a meaningful event; thus, suspense is a combination of anticipation and uncertainty dealing with the obscurity of the future. In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity and surprise. Suspense could however be some small event in a person's life, such as a child anticipating an answer to a request they've made, such as, "May I get the kitty?" Therefore, suspense may be experienced to different degrees.

Suspense (disambiguation)

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions.

Suspense may also refer to:

  • Suspense (1913 film), a silent film
  • Suspense (1919 film), an American film directed by Frank Reicher
  • Suspense (1930 film), a film featuring Walter Summers
  • Suspense (1946 film), a film starring Barry Sullivan
  • Suspense (radio drama), an American radio anthology series
  • Suspense (U.S. TV series), an American television anthology series
  • Suspense (UK TV series), a British television anthology series that featured many guest performers, including Geoffrey Bayldon
  • Suspense (album), a 1984 album by Pink Lady
  • Suspense Digest, an Urdu magazine in Pakistan
Suspense (1913 film)

Suspense is a 1913 American silent short film thriller directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. Weber also wrote the scenario, and stars in the film with Valentine Paul. The film features early examples of a split screen shot and a car chase.

The Internet Movie Database lists Lon Chaney as having an unconfirmed and uncredited brief role, however this is disputed.

A print of the film is preserved at the film archive of the British Film Institute.

Suspense (U.S. TV series)

Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts.

Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Cloris Leachman, Brian Keith, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and many more.

The program was a live television series, but most episodes were recorded on kinescope. However, only about 90 of the 260 episodes survive today.

Suspense (album)

Suspense ~Pink Lady Again~ is an 1984 album by the Japanese duo Pink Lady. After the duo disbanded in 1981, they got together to record this album.

Suspense (1930 film)

Suspense is a 1930 British war film directed by Walter Summers and starring Mickey Brantford, Cyril McLaglen and Jack Raine. During the First World War a British unit take up a new position in a trench unaware that the Germans are laying a mine underneath it. The battle effects were created under the supervision of Cliff Richardson at Elstree Studios which was owned by British International Pictures.

Usage examples of "suspense".

And presently she felt that she could not lie there any longer, waiting in actionless suspense.

And now we -- no longer able to stand the constant risk, the blind chance of a meteorite hit, that endless suspense, the hell we went through when an Arder or an Ennesson failed to return from a reconnaissance flight -- we immediately began to refer to that time of terror as the only proper thing, as right, as giving us dignity and purpose.

At last he could bear suspense no longer, and he wrote to Messrs Beit, inquiring in a humble manner whether the manuscript had arrived in safety.

Counters in the boojum ticked off precise calibrations of radioactive decay, but the machine felt no suspense at all.

But as the watchers choked in agony of suspense Weir bunted the ball, and Reddy Ray flashed across the plate with the winning run.

During the two mortal hours of suspense, full of sombre thoughts and the most melancholy ideas, I could not help fancying that I was going to be plunged in one of these horrible dens, where the wretched inhabitants feed on idle hopes or become the prey of panic fears.

It was a moment of the keenest suspense, and just when it was at its height there came a strange sound of hurrying feet behind the outermost crowd, a murmur such as a great pack of wolves might make rushing through snow, while a soft long wail went up from the darkness.

The suspense and anxiety she suffered, on this subject, she found all her efforts unable to controul, and her secret wish to see Valancourt once more, though unseen by him, powerfully prompted her to go, but prudence and a delicate pride restrained her, and she determined to avoid the possibility of throwing herself in his way, by forbearing to visit the gardens, for several days.

After we had dined he persuaded me to go to the theatre, as in consequence of the suspense of the subscription arrangements the boxes would be filled with all the quality in Marseilles.

Marion Crawford83 MIDNIGHT EXPRESS Alfred Noyes110 THE DAMNED THING Ambrose Bierce116 THE METRONOME August Derleth 127 THE PIPE-SMOKER Martin Armstrong134 THE CORPSE AT THE TABLE 144 Samuel Hopkins Adams THE WOMAN AT SEVEN BROTHERS Wilbur Daniel Steele THE BOOK Margaret Irwin 173 Alfred Hitchcock Speaking of Terror A collection of stories of suspense which I edited for Dell Books having proved a success, the publishers asked me to bring together a group of tales which I admire because of their skillful handling of the element of terror.

While Stave confronted Esmer, and the Ramen waited in suspense, she wondered vaguely how Hyn and Hynyn alone made so much noise on the sodden grass.

Heart-throbbing romance and knockabout comedy and nerve-racking suspense.

I could bear the suspense no longer, so, taking a light and begging Leonilda and the duke to excuse me, I asked Lucrezia to come into the next room with me.

In each book, Rowling holds the outcome in suspense and always manages surprising and gratifying conclusions.

The British wings succeeded in withdrawing, and the concentrated force at Arundel was too strong for attack Yet there was a time of suspense, a time when every man had become of such importance that even fifty Indian syces were for the first and last time in the war, to their own supreme gratification, permitted for twenty-four hours to play their natural part as soldiers.