suspense
adj.— «Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Army’s term for a deadline is a “suspense,” sometimes abbreviated simply “S:” and followed by a date. The first time I was told that I had to “meet a suspense,” I didn’t know where to turn, but now I understand the aptness of referring even to an end by a term most of us associate with uncertainty. The Army is a life of perpetual suspense: the soldier waits for war to begin and then waits for it to end.» —“In the Valley of the Shadow” by Elizabeth D. Samet New York Times Sept. 30, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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