usual suspect

Frequency: 8.013.5 per million words

The person or people who are always suspected of causing a particular problem.

suspectADJECTIVE + suspect (noun)

Categories:

usual

Examples (10)

  • The police have rounded up all the usual suspects.
  • He's been a usual suspect in petty crimes for years.
  • Whenever there's trouble, he's always one of the usual suspects.
  • The detective knew that the usual suspects would be questioned first.
  • She was tired of being treated like one of the usual suspects every time something went missing.
  • The politician dismissed the accusations, calling his critics the usual suspects.
  • It's predictable that the usual suspects will be blamed.
  • We can't just arrest the usual suspects; we need real evidence.
  • The media often focuses on the usual suspects rather than investigating thoroughly.
  • Don't automatically assume guilt; not every problem is caused by the usual suspects.