1. a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen: "come on, Fran, don't keep me in suspense!"
▪ a quality in a work of fiction that arouses excited expectation or uncertainty about what may happen: "a tale of mystery and suspense"
2. the temporary cessation or suspension of something.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French suspens ‘abeyance’, based on Latin suspensus ‘suspended, hovering, doubtful’, past participle of suspendere (see suspend).