English Explanatory Dictionary

usual suspects

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The people, often scapegoats, routinely arrested in response to a crime.
  2. The people or things that would be routinely expected to appear in a particular context.

Word forms

usual suspects the usual suspects

Etymology

The phrase was commonly used in New York in the 1930s, by both criminals and law enforcement, often with regard to baseless arrests. The phrase was popularized more broadly by its appearance in the film Casablanca (1942), especially since the 1990s.

Synonyms

scapegoat regulars
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