distrust

As nouns, distrust and mistrust mean just about the same thing: doubt or suspicion—a lack of trust.

As verbs, they are also often used interchangeably to mean to regard someone with suspicion—to not trust them.

Some people think that there is a subtle difference in what each word implies. Distrust, they say, implies that there is a strong reason for the lack of trust—that it’s based on something that a person has already done. Mistrust, on the other hand, is said to be based on suspicion, as opposed to having a basis in someone’s past actions.

This may be what some people intend to imply when they use each word, but, still, most people use the two of them in just about the same way. Distrust is the more commonly used of the two. The adjective distrustful is also more common than mistrustful.

Here are some examples of distrust and mistrust used correctly in a sentence. In both cases, the other word could be swapped in without changing the meaning.

Example: I have a deep mistrust of landlords. 

Example: She has distrusted me ever since I lost her book—and I think her distrust of me has grown since then. 

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between distrust and mistrust.

True or False? 

Distrust is only ever a verb, while mistrust is only ever a noun.