English Dictionary
Definition suggest in British English
suggest
verb
What are red words?
Around 90% of spoken and written English relies on just 7,500 common words.
These words are highlighted in red and are ranked using a star system.
- One-star words are commonly used
- Two-star words are even more common
- Three-star words are the most frequently used
[transitive]
verb
What are red words?
Around 90% of spoken and written English relies on just 7,500 common words.These words are highlighted in red and are ranked using a star system.
- One-star words are commonly used
- Two-star words are even more common
- Three-star words are the most frequently used
▪ politely, respectfully, seriously, strongly, tactfully, tentatively
When suggest means ‘to offer an idea or a plan for someone to consider’, it is never followed by an infinitive. Use the pattern suggest doing something:
✗ The government suggested to construct another railway link to the mainland.
✓ The government suggested constructing another railway link to the mainland.
When suggest and the verb that follows it have different subjects, you can use the pattern suggest that someone should do something:
The therapist also suggested that Pamela should tell her parents more about what she was doing.
Suggest is never followed by a direct personal object. Use the preposition to:
✗ If this happened to one of your friends, what would you suggest her?
✓ If this happened to one of your friends, what would you suggest to her?
✗ He suggests parents that they should adopt a different way of bringing up their children.
✓ He suggests to parents that they should adopt a different way of bringing up their children.
Ways of suggesting something
an informal way of suggesting something
an informal way of suggesting something that you can do to help someone
an informal way of suggesting to the people you are with something that you could all do together
a way of suggesting something when you are introducing a new idea that other people have not thought of
a way of asking whether someone would accept a suggestion
a way of suggesting something, especially when you are not completely sure if it is a good idea
a way of suggesting something when most other possibilities have already been considered
a polite and formal way of suggesting something
a way of suggesting something, often used when interrupting people who are already discussing what to do
a way of suggesting something in a slightly annoyed way, especially when you think someone has been silly or has done something wrong
Examples:
How about/What about going out to dinner tonight?
What if I babysat for you tonight? Then you could both go to the party.
I know, let’s go swimming!
Why don’t you try phoning their office number instead?
What would you say to a weekend by the seaside? ♦ What do you say we have dinner at that restaurant by the beach?
Perhaps we could ask Jerry’s father if he has a tent he could lend us?
I suppose we could always go to the cinema instead.
May I suggest that we postpone discussing this until the next meeting?
Could I make a suggestion? Why don’t we put all the guests on the first floor and then everyone will be happy?
In future, I suggest you ask your father’s permission before you borrow his car.
If there is a mechanical problem, we suggest contacting the manufacturer directly.
to tell someone about something that may be useful or suitable for a particular purpose
Can you suggest an inexpensive restaurant?
The doctor suggested rest as an alternative to surgery.
The cause of the problem, as Hutton suggests, is the leadership's refusal to accept any form of criticism.
Are you seriously suggesting she did this on purpose?
I'm not suggesting that giving up smoking will be easy.
to remind you of something
The architecture suggested a chapel.
