Suspenseful
/səˈspɛns.fəl/noun
Full of suspense; creating anxious anticipation or uncertainty.
Did you know?Suspense and suspend come from the same Latin root meaning “to hang up” or “hold underneath,” which is why the word feels like being left dangling between certainty and fear.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*spend-
“to stretch, draw out, or make taut”
Latin
Latin
suspendere
“to hang up; to dangle from above”
Late Latin
Latin
suspensus
“hanging; held up; in a state of uncertainty”
Middle English
English
suspense
“a state of mental uncertainty or anxious waiting”
Late 19th Century
English
suspenseful
“full of suspense; creating tense anticipation”