MEANING
1. To lack confidence in someone’s honesty, reliability, or intentions.
2. A lack of confidence in someone or something.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- distrust a stranger
- distrust motives
On the page
She distrusted the stranger’s explanation.
He distrusted the figures until they were checked.
They distrusted the promise of easy passage.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- distrust
- Past tense
- distrusted
- Past participle
- distrusted
- Present participle
- distrusting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- distrust
- Present continuous
- am/is/are distrusting
- Present perfect
- have/has distrusted
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been distrusting
- Past
- distrusted
- Past continuous
- was/were distrusting
- Past perfect
- had distrusted
- Past perfect continuous
- had been distrusting
- Future
- will distrust
- Future continuous
- will be distrusting
- Future perfect
- will have distrusted
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been distrusting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: fear. Forms: distrust; distrusts; distrusted; distrusted; distrusting Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: distrusts.
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