sneaking suspicion
Quiet growing unease
A sneaking suspicion is a nagging feeling that something is true, even without solid evidence to confirm it.
The phrase suggests the suspicion creeps up gradually rather than arriving all at once, and often proves correct.
I have a sneaking suspicion she's planning a surprise party.
It typically precedes discoveries of hidden truths or confirms what someone quietly suspected all along.
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- nagging doubtPersistent, low-grade uncertainty
- surmiseGuess from incomplete information
- guessEstimate without certainty
- ideaMental formation
supposition · inkling · foreboding · premonition · bad feeling · sinking feeling · misgiving · unease · distrust · skepticism · conjecture · hypothesis · presumption · gut feeling · funny feeling · sixth sense · shot in the dark · speculation
- gut feelingsgut feeling, gut instinct, gut reaction, hunch, instinct
- suspiciondistrust, mistrust, doubt, wary, leery
- instinctsinstinct, survival instinct, survival instincts, maternal instinct, gut instinct
sneaking suspicionabsolute certainty
State of having no doubt
certainty · conclusive evidence · hard evidence · moral certainty · incontrovertible evidence
sneaking suspicionblissful ignorance
sneak, sneaking, sneaky, sneakier, sneakiest, sneakiness, sneaked, suspicion, suspect