different between worry vs suspense

English

Etymology

From Middle English worien, werien, wirien, wirwen, wyry?en (“to choke, strangle”), from Old English wyr?an, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijan?, from Proto-Indo-European *wer??- (“bind, squeeze”). Cognate with Dutch worgen, wurgen, German würgen. Compare Latin urgere (“to press, push”), Sanskrit ????? (v?hati, “to tear out, pluck”), Lithuanian ver?žti (“to string; squeeze”), Russian (poetic) ?????????? (otverzát?, “to open”, literally “to untie”). Related to wring.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?w??i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w??i/, /?w?i/
• (General New Zealand, General Australian, non-standard) IPA^(key): /?w??i/
• (West Country, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /?w???i/
• (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• Rhymes: -?ri

Homophone: wurry

Verb

worry (third-person singular simple present worries, present participle worrying, simple past and past participle worried)

1. (intransitive) To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.

2. (transitive) Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress.

3. (transitive) To harass; to irritate or distress.

4. (transitive) To seize or shake by the throat, especially of a dog or wolf.
5. (transitive) To touch repeatedly, to fiddle with.
   • 1997, David Sedaris, "A Plague of Tics", Naked, page 15:

     So what if I wanted to touch my nose to the windshield? Who was it hurting? Why was it that he could repeatedly worry his change and bite his lower lip without the threat of punishment?

   • 2002, Masha Hamilton, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, page 272:

     No stories, no arguments. He just worries his prayer beads.

6. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) To strangle.
   • 1891, Journal of Jurisprudence and Scottish Law Magazine (1891), Execution of the Judgment of Death, page 397:

     We read (Law's Memor. Pref. lix.) that "one John Brugh, a notorious warlock (wizard) in the parochin of Fossoquhy, by the space of thirty-six years, was worried at a stake and burned, 1643."

Synonyms

• (trouble mentally): fret

Derived terms

• beworry
• worried

Translations

Noun

worry (countable and uncountable, plural worries)

1. A strong feeling of anxiety.

2. An instance or cause of such a feeling.

3. A person who causes worry.

Derived terms

• worrisome
• worryful
• worryless

Translations

Scots

Verb

worry

1. (transitive) To strangle.

English

Alternative forms

• suspence (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English suspense, suspence, from Anglo-Norman suspens (as in en suspens) and Old French suspens, from Latin susp?nsus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??sp?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Noun

suspense (usually uncountable, plural suspenses)

1. The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time.
2. the pleasurable emotion of anticipation and excitement regarding the outcome or climax of a book, film etc.
3. The unpleasant emotion of anxiety or apprehension in an uncertain situation.
   • 1656, John Denham, The Destruction of Troy

     Ten days the prophet in suspense remain'd.

4. (law) 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.

Derived terms

• suspenseful

Translations

Adjective

suspense (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Held or lifted up; held or prevented from proceeding.
2. (obsolete) Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt.

French

Etymology 1

Nominalisation of the feminine form of suspens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sys.p??s/

Noun

suspense f (plural suspenses)

1. suspense (state of being suspended)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English suspense, itself from Old French suspense. Doublet of suspens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sys.p?ns/

Noun

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. suspense (emotion; feeling)

Further reading

• “suspense” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Etymology

From French suspense, from English suspense.

Noun

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. suspense
2. thriller

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English suspense.

Noun

suspense f (invariable)

1. suspense (all senses)

Latin

Participle

susp?nse

1. vocative masculine singular of susp?nsus

References

• suspense in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• suspense in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Portuguese

Noun

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. suspense (the excited anticipation of an outcome)
2. (fiction) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Spanish

Etymology

From French suspense, from English suspense.

Noun

suspense m (plural suspenses)

1. (Spain) suspense

   Synonym: (Latin America) suspenso

2. thriller

Derived terms

• novela de suspense (“thriller”) (novel genre)
• película de suspense (“thriller”) (film genre)