suspence

Noun

suspense (usually uncountable, plural suspenses)

1. (usually) The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time.
   • For thee the Fates, severely kind, ordain / A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain; / Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose; / No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, lines 249–252; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 113
2. (usually) The pleasurable emotion of anticipation and excitement regarding the outcome or climax of a book, film etc.
3. (usually) The unpleasant emotion of anxiety or apprehension in an uncertain situation.
   • Ten days the prophet in suspense remain'd.1636 (date written), John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay upon the Second Book of Virgils Æneis”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: […] [John Macock] for H[enry]...
4. (usually) 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.
5. (US, usually) A deadline.
   • She sent us that assignment with a suspense of noon tomorrow.

See all 7 meanings of suspense