Synonyms for suspicious
- adjective
Most common
mistrustful distrustful wary untrusting suspect shady questionable doubtful
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Mistrustful
3. Questionable — arousing suspicion
Definitions
- adj. 1
Arousing suspicion.
His suspicious behaviour brought him to the attention of the police.
- adj. 2
Distrustful or tending to suspect.
We know he has a suspicious attitude to get-rich-quick schemes.
- adj. 3
Expressing suspicion
She gave me a suspicious look.
Related words
- Word family
- sus suspiciously suspiciousness suspect suspicion
Choose the right word
One is suspicious of another from unfavorable indications or from a knowledge of wrong in his previous conduct, or even without reason.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- wary My parents always told me to be wary of strangers.
- distrustful I was distrustful of his motives.
- mistrustful I'm not mistrustful; I'm simply cautious.
- suspect Doctors suspect smoking has lot to do with cancer.
- shady You try to find something shady in whatever I say.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| suspicious | rising | |
| wary | rising | |
| distrustful | rising | |
| mistrustful | rising | |
| untrusting | rising | |
| suspect | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- wary2
- 5 letters
- funny2, queer1, shady2, fishy2, leary2
- 6 letters
- smelly2
- 7 letters
- suspect2, jealous2, envious3
- 8 letters
- doubtful2, doubting2
- 9 letters
- equivocal4
- 10 letters
- untrusting
- 11 letters
- distrustful3, mistrustful3
- 12 letters
- questionable4, apprehensive4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (wary2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- soupçonneux
- Italiano
- sospettoso
- Deutsch
- argwöhnisch