sə(g)ˈjes(h)chən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, act of suggesting, from Middle French, from Latin suggestion-, suggestio, from suggestus (past participle of suggerere to suggest) + -ion-, -io -ion
1. obsolete : incitement to evil : instigation , temptation
thy suggestion , plot, and damned practice — Shakespeare
2.
a. : the act or process of suggesting
a letter written at a friend's suggestion
b. : something suggested: as
(1) : proposal
his suggestions … had the force of commands — S.H.Adams
(2) : intimation , hint
his whispered suggestion of something significant about to happen — Sherwood Anderson
(3) : prompting, inspiration
strange … that I should need a suggestion from the Iliad — Thomas De Quincey
3. : information given without oath in a legal action : an entry on the record for the action of the court of a material fact or circumstance (as the death or insolvency of a party)
4.
a. : the process by which one thought leads to another especially through association of ideas : the power of imaginative or artistic re-creation of experience : evocation
fear of the dark … seems to be entirely due to suggestion — Bertrand Russell
poetry achieves its finest effects by suggestion
stimulates the observer with extraordinary suggestion in his paintings — Howard Devree
b. : the act or process of impressing something (as an idea, attitude, or desired action) upon the mind of another
visual suggestion … far more powerful than the written word — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
situational factors influencing the process of suggestion — T.E.Coffin
c. : a means or process of influencing attitudes and behavior hypnotically
produced a hypnotic state very rapidly and by extremely simple suggestion — C.P.Oberndorf
5. : a slight indication or touch : soupçon , trace
a suggestion of blue in the gray
a sprightliness of flavor, a suggestion of the pineapple, the apricot, the orange — David Fairchild