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Suspicion

Psychology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A psychological state marked by wary distrust, often involving the belief that others conceal hostile or deceitful motives.

Detailed Definition
Suspicion colors perception with doubt. Poets express it through guarded language, shadow imagery, or rhetorical questioning, revealing how it isolates the self and distorts relationships.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” suspicion fixates on the father as Nazi; In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” suspicion imagines judgment: “They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’”; In Emily Dickinson’s “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” suspicion questions societal norms; In W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” suspicion colors apocalyptic vision; In Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” suspicion rails against societal repression; In Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong,” suspicion intertwines with self-worth.
Additional Notes
Suspicion—distrust without proof—is often politicized in poetry (Ginsberg, Plath); differs from paranoia by its rational basis; poetic techniques include interrogative syntax, surveillance imagery, or ambiguous pronouns; students should analyze power dynamics: Who is suspicious of whom?; note its link to marginalization—suspicion as protective.
Also Known As
Distrust Mistrust Doubt Wariness Misgiving
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