suspense
Edge-of-seat feeling
Suspense is anxious uncertainty about an outcome—the feeling of waiting to learn what happens next.
Thrillers and horror films generate suspense deliberately: The suspense was killing me.
A story can build suspense or keep you in suspense.
In legal contexts, something held in suspense is temporarily undecided or inactive.
Suspense-driven narrative genre
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
- noirHard-boiled film genre
- whodunitCrime fiction identifying perpetrator
- detectiveProfessional crime investigator
psychological · horror · gothic · crime · procedural · pulp · potboiler · page-turner
Stretched or strained state
- buildupGradual accumulation over time
- waitingRemaining in expectation
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
- expectationBelief about future outcomes
dread · apprehension · unease · foreboding · anxiety · edginess · nervousness · trepidation
Suspenseful unresolved ending
- tensionStretched or strained state
- buildupGradual accumulation over time
- revealMake something visible
- pacingRate of movement
foreshadowing · misdirection · hook · teaser · climax · denouement · resolution · payoff
Lack of firm belief
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- unknownNot yet discovered
- unpredictabilityState resisting forecasts
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
secrecy · enigma · question · limbo · indeterminacy · vagueness · obscurity · unrevealed
Holding attention completely
- rivetingCompletely holding one's attention
- edge-of-seatIntensely suspenseful experience
- nail-biterSuspensefully close competition
- heart-poundingCausing intense physical excitement
pulse-quickening · breathless · spine-tingling · white-knuckle · intense · electrifying · nerve-wracking · gut-wrenching
thriller
Suspense-driven narrative genre
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
- noirHard-boiled film genre
- whodunitCrime fiction identifying perpetrator
detective · psychological · horror · gothic · crime · procedural · pulp · potboiler · page-turner · spy
tension
Stretched or strained state
- buildupGradual accumulation over time
- waitingRemaining in expectation
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
expectation · dread · apprehension · unease · foreboding · anxiety · edginess · nervousness · trepidation · restlessness
cliffhanger
Suspenseful unresolved ending
pacing · foreshadowing · misdirection · hook · teaser · climax · denouement · resolution · payoff · setup
doubt
Lack of firm belief
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- unknownNot yet discovered
- unpredictabilityState resisting forecasts
mystery · secrecy · enigma · question · limbo · indeterminacy · vagueness · obscurity · unrevealed · hidden
gripping
Holding attention completely
- rivetingCompletely holding one's attention
- edge-of-seatIntensely suspenseful experience
- nail-biterSuspensefully close competition
heart-pounding · pulse-quickening · breathless · spine-tingling · white-knuckle · intense · electrifying · nerve-wracking · gut-wrenching · hair-raising
- dramaTV drama, acting, television drama, drama school, playwright
- literary elementsplot, character, setting, theme, narrator
- mystery fictionwhodunit, whodunnit, sleuth, murder mystery, detective novel
- prosenovel, novels, short story, novellas, essay
- action filmschase scene, car chase, explosion, stunt, shootout
- cliffhangersseason finale, plot twist, to be continued, twist ending, tension
suspensecertainty
Total absence of doubt
knowledge · assurance · confidence · foregone conclusion · sureness
suspensecalm
Free from agitation
tranquility · peacefulness · serenity · relaxation · composure
suspenseresolution
Formal decision or determination
conclusion · denouement · finality · closure · end
- suspension bridgesRoadways hung from cables
- suspended animationHalted vital functions, reversible
- suspend one's disbeliefAccept fiction as real temporarily
- school suspensionPunishment barring student attendance
- suspension of hostilitiesAgreed halt to combat
- suspended licenseDriving privilege temporarily removed
suspend, suspension, suspended, suspenders, suspends, suspending, suspensions, suspenseful, suspender