distrust

English

Etymology

From dis- +‎ trust, alteration of the earlier term wantrust.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtɹʌst/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtɹɐst/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəsˈtɹɐst/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtɹʊst/
• Rhymes: -ʌst
• Hyphenation: dis‧trust

Noun

distrust (usually uncountable, plural distrusts)

1. Lack of trust or confidence.

   Many people have developed a cynical distrust of politicians.

Synonyms

• mistrust
• untrust
• wantrust (obsolete)

Derived terms

• distrustful
• distrustless
• memory distrust syndrome
• self-distrust

Translations

lack of trust or confidence

• Bulgarian: недоверие (bg) n (nedoverie), съмнение (bg) n (sămnenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疑惑 (zh) (yíhuò), 不信 (zh) (bùxìn)

• Czech: nedůvěra (cs) f
• Dutch: wantrouwen (nl) n
• Esperanto: malfido
• Finnish: epäluottamus (fi)
• French: défiance (fr) f, méfiance (fr) f
• Galician: desconfianza f, receo m
• Georgian: უნდობლობა (undobloba)
• German: Misstrauen (de) n, Argwohn (de) m
• Greek: καχυποψία (el) f (kachypopsía)

  Ancient Greek: ἀπιστία f (apistía)

• Hungarian: bizalmatlanság (hu)
• Indonesian: ketidakpercayaan
• Italian: diffidenza (it) f, sfiducia (it)
• Japanese: 疑惑 (ja) (ぎわく, giwaku), 不信 (ja) (ふしん, fushin)
• Korean: 의혹(疑惑) (ko) (uihok), 불신(不信) (bulsin)
• Middle English: wantrust
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mistillit (no) m

• Polish: niedowierzanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: desconfiança f
• Romanian: neîncredere (ro) f, difidență f
• Russian: недове́рие (ru) n (nedovérije), сомне́ние (ru) n (somnénije)
• Spanish: desconfianza (es) f, recelo (es) m, difidencia (es) f, defianza (es) f (rare)
• Swedish: misstro (sv) c
• Tagalog: kawalang-tiwala
• Ukrainian: недові́ра f (nedovíra), недові́р'я n (nedovírʺja)

Verb

distrust (third-person singular simple present distrusts, present participle distrusting, simple past and past participle distrusted)

1. To put no trust in; to have no confidence in.
   • 1962, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution. 1789-1848, page 230:

     Moreover, genuinely conservative governments were inclined to distrust all intellectuals and ideologists, even reactionary ones, for, once the principle of thinking rather than obeying was accepted, the end was in sight.

   • 2011 May 8, Bryan Cogman, “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”, in Game of Thrones, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Eddard Stark (Sean Bean):

     Lord Baelish, perhaps I was wrong to distrust you.
     Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen): Distrusting me was the wisest thing you've done since you climbed off your horse.

Conjugation

Conjugation of distrust

infinitive	(to) distrust
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	distrust	distrusted
2nd-person singular	distrust, distrustest†	distrusted, distrustedst†
3rd-person singular	distrusts, distrusteth†	distrusted
plural	distrust
subjunctive	distrust	distrusted
imperative	distrust	—
participles	distrusting	distrusted

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

• mistrust

Derived terms

• distruster

Translations

to put no trust in

• Bulgarian: съмнявам се (sămnjavam se)
• Czech: nedůvěřovat
• Dutch: wantrouwen (nl)
• Esperanto: malfidi
• Finnish: olla luottamatta (+ illative)
• French: se méfier (fr)
• Galician: desconfiar, recear (gl), sospeitar (gl)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ungalaubjan)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀπιστέω (apistéō)

• Italian: diffido (it)
• Kabuverdianu: diskunfia, deskonfiá
• Māori: matakana, hoto
• Portuguese: desconfiar de
• Romanian: suspecta (ro), mefia
• Spanish: desconfiar (es)
• Swedish: misstro (sv)