suspenseful
adjective
suspenseful is spelled S-U-S-P-E-N-S-E-F-U-L: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, suspenseful means “Inducing suspense” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in suspenseful?
| Letters | 11: S-U-S-P-E-N-S-E-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 39,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is suspenseful?
Suspenseful appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce suspenseful?
Suspenseful has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-suspenseful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of suspenseful
- more suspenseful comparative
- most suspenseful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does suspenseful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Inducing suspense.
The television movie was so suspenseful that I leaped in the air and screamed when the doorbell rang.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Suspenseful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense inducing suspense:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | spannend |
| Spanish | inquietante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does suspenseful come from?
From suspense + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).