suspense

Etymology

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

noun

1. The condition of being suspended; cessation for a time.
   For thee the Fates, severely kind, ordain / A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain; / Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose; / No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows. 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, lines 249–252; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 113
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.
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.
5. (US, military) A deadline.
   She sent us that assignment with a suspense of noon tomorrow.

adj

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