1. (n.) The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended; pendency; as, suspension from a hook.
2. (n.) Especially, temporary delay, interruption, or cessation
3. (n.) of labor.
4. (n.) of decision, determination, judgment, etc.; as, to ask a suspension of judgment or opinion in view of evidence to be produced.
5. (n.) of the payment of what is due; as, the suspension of a mercantile firm or of a bank.
6. (n.) of punishment, or sentence of punishment.
7. (n.) of a person in respect of the exercise of his office, powers, prerogative, etc.; as, the suspension of a student or of a clergyman.
8. (n.) of the action or execution of law, etc.; as, the suspension of the habeas corpus act.
9. (n.) A conditional withholding, interruption, or delay; as, the suspension of a payment on the performance of a condition.
10. (n.) The state of a solid when its particles are mixed with, but undissolved in, a fluid, and are capable of separation by straining; also, any substance in this state.
11. (n.) A keeping of the hearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or of what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations employed.
12. (n.) A stay or postponement of execution of a sentence condemnatory by means of letters of suspension granted on application to the lord ordinary.
13. (n.) The prolongation of one or more tones of a chord into the chord which follows, thus producing a momentary discord, suspending the concord which the ear expects. Cf. Retardation.
Thesaurus Entries
abandonment, abeyance, abjuration, abjurement, abolishment, abolition, abrogation, adaptation, afterthought, annulment, arrangement, bind, block, blockage, breach, break, breath, breather, breathing place, breathing space, breathing spell, breathing time, bureaucratic delay, caesura, cancel, canceling, cancellation, cashiering, cassation, catharsis, cease-fire, cessation, cigarette break, cleansing, clearance, cocktail hour, coffee break, cold storage, concluding, conclusion, conge, countermand, counterorder, danglement, dangling, day off, debarring, deconsecration, defeasance, deferment, defrocking, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, delaying, deliverance, denial, dependence, dependency, deportation, deposal, deposition, deprivation, desistance, detachment, detention, dethronement, disbarment, disbarring, discard, discharge, discontinuance, discontinuation, discrownment, disemployment, disenthronement, disjunction, dismissal, displacement, displacing, disposal, disposition, doldrums, dormancy, double take, downtime, dragging, drop, drumming out, ejection, elimination, emotional release, end, ending, enforced respite, eradication, eviction, exclusion, excommunication, exile, expatriation, expulsion, finish, firing, fissure, forbearance, forced resignation, forced separation, freeing, furloughing, gap, halt, hang-up, hanging, happy hour, harmonization, hesitation, hiatus, hibernation, hindrance, hold-up, holdup, holiday, immobility, impeachment, inaction, inactiveness, inactivity, inertia, instrumentation, interim, interlude, intermezzo, intermission, intermittence, interruption, interval, intonation, invalidation, jam, kicking upstairs, lacuna, lag, lagging, lapse, latency, layoff, letup, liquidation, logjam, lull, modulation, moratorium, motionlessness, nonexercise, nullification, obstruction, orchestration, ostracism, ousting, outlawing, outlawry, overthrow, overthrowal, paperasserie, pause, pendency, pendulosity, pendulousness, pensileness, pensility, pensioning off, period, phrasing, pink slip, postponement, preparation, purgation, purge, purging, quiescence, quiescency, recall, recantation, recess, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, rejection, release, relinquishment, remission, removal, renege, renouncement, renunciation, repeal, reprieve, rescinding, rescindment, rescission, resignation, resolution, respite, rest, retardance, retardation, retirement, retraction, reversal, revocation, revoke, revokement, riddance, setting, setting aside, severance, slow-up, slowdown, slowness, solution, spell, stand-down, stay, stay of execution, stop, stoppage, superannuation, surcease, surplusing, suspense, tea break, termination, the ax, the boot, the bounce, the gate, the sack, ticket, tie-up, time lag, time out, tone painting, transcription, truce, unchurching, underactivity, unfrocking, unseating, vacation, vacatur, voidance, voiding, wait
