Dictionary

soupçon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /suːpˈsɒ̃/
• /suːpˈsɒn/

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French soupçon. Doublet of suspection.

Meanings

1. A very small amount; a hint; a trace, slight idea; an inkling.
   • There were times, during the first two years of the Biden presidency, when I came close to forgetting about it all: the taunts and the provocations; the incitements and the resentments; the disorchestrated reasoning; the verbal incontinence; the press conferences fueled by megalomania, vengeance, and a soupçon of hydroxychloroquine. 2023 December 8, Jennifer Senior, “What Will Happen to the American Psyche If Trump Is Reelected?”, in The Atlantic:
   • Anthony was playing with an ancient tennis-ball, and he bounced it carefully on the floor several times before he answered with a soupçon of acidity: “You're a little idiot, Geraldine.” 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 1, page 92:
   • No one is so depraved that a soupçon of goodness cannot be found in them.
   • Henrietta, her niece, looked much prettier than she really was; she had good dark eyes, to which a soupçon of rouge, put on with such skill that few suspected it, gave all possible brightness. 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 21:
   • […] and as he spoke, there was just a soupçon of foreign accent in the pronunciation of the French vowels, a certain drawl of o's and a's, that would have betrayed the Britisher to an observant ear. 1906, Baroness Orczy, chapter VI, in I Will Repay, London: Greening & Co, page 88:
   • Eleanor returned the pressure of the other's hand with an infinitesimal soupçon of a squeeze. 1857, Anthony Trollope, “The Stanhopes at Home”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 259:
   • Add a soupçon of red pepper.
   • coffee with a soupçon of cognac
2. (dated) A suspicion; a suggestion.

Forms

Synonyms

toddick · fleck · bit · molecule · vestige · skosh · aught · smidgen · ace · grain · scooch · morsel · glimmer · inch · trace · smidgy · touch · atomy · spot · speckle · mite · smidge · scantling · dot · scent · hoot · jot · mote · whit · bissel · piece · tuppence worth · damn · dash · sliver · speck · dab · skerrick · pennyworth · strain · ounce · scruple · scintilla · thought · flyspeck · diddly · spatter · tinge · pinch · iota · modicum · soupçon · hooter · tidbit · flip · hint · atom · skoosh · sprinkling · drop · crumb · glimpse · particle · tittle · smidget · sprinkle · ooch · morceau · halfpennyworth · whiff · continental · relish · smithereen · semblance · spark · smattering · scrap · smitch · dusting · tad · shred · trifle · lick · glint · tidge