Definition

1. Verb:
   • To temporarily stop or delay something: To cause something to cease for a period of time, often with the intention of resuming it later.
   • To hang something from a point above: To attach something so that it is supported from above and its lower part is free.
   • To bar someone temporarily from a position or privilege: To prevent someone from performing their duties, attending a school, etc., for a fixed period.

Usage and Examples

• To temporarily stop or delay:
  • The company decided to suspend operations at the factory for maintenance.
  • The judge chose to suspend the sentence for two years.
• To hang something:
  • They suspended a beautiful chandelier from the center of the ceiling.
  • The bridge is suspended by massive steel cables.
• To bar someone temporarily:
  • The student was suspended from school for three days due to misconduct.
  • The player was suspended from the team for violating the rules.

Advanced Usage

• "Suspend disbelief": To willingly accept something as true or real for the sake of enjoyment, especially in fiction.
  • A good movie makes you suspend disbelief and get lost in the story.
• "Suspended in time": Seeming to be unchanged or unaffected by the passage of time.
  • The ancient village felt suspended in time.
• "Suspended animation": A state in which vital functions are slowed down or halted, often in science fiction or theoretical biology.
  • The astronaut was placed in suspended animation for the long journey.

Variants and Related Words

• Suspension (n): The act of suspending or the state of being suspended.
  • The suspension of the service caused inconvenience.
  • The car has an excellent suspension system.
• Suspended (adj): In a hanging position or temporarily stopped.
  • We ate at a table with a suspended glass top.
  • This is a suspended license.
• Suspender (n): An elastic strap worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers.

Synonyms

• Halt: To bring or come to an abrupt stop.
• Postpone: To cause or arrange for something to take place at a time later than first scheduled.
• Dangle: To hang or swing loosely.
• Debar: To exclude or prohibit someone officially from doing something.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Suspend" is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

• "Hang in the balance": To be in an uncertain or undecided state. (Conceptually related to being suspended or pending.)
  • The future of the project hangs in the balance.

Verb

1. render temporarily ineffective
   • the prison sentence was suspended
2. make inoperative or stop
   • suspend payments on the loan
3. stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it
   • Suspend the aid to the war-torn country
4. bar temporarily; from school, office, etc.
5. cause to be held in suspension in a fluid
   • suspend the particles
6. hang freely
   • The secret police suspended their victims from the ceiling and beat them