Distrust definition: Distrust is defined as a lack of trust or confidence. Paradise valley community college. (noun) An example of distrust is when you don't believe the story your child told you about how he crashed the car. When the agents of the spinners, that is, the buying brokers, by becoming principals in some transactions, had acquired interests diametrically opposed to those of their customers, the consequent feeling of distrust among spinners gave birth to the Cotton Buying Company, which, constituted originally of twenty to thrity limited cotton-spinning companies, represents to-day nearly 6,000,000.

noun

• The feeling that someone or something cannot be relied upon.

  • ‘But it reflects the public distrust of the police.’
  • ‘They reflect an inherent distrust of artistic or intellectual pursuits.’
  • ‘Public distrust of the government pops up all over the place.’
  • ‘The initial inquiry triggered sensational newspaper headlines and aroused widespread distrust of the state's public hospital system.’
  • ‘Many of his poems show an intense distrust for machinery, which is not surprising for poets of that age.’
  • ‘Broad masses of the population are alienated from both parties and view their nominees with deep-seated distrust.’
  • ‘He regards me with a look that manages to combine confusion and profound distrust.’
  • ‘There can also be little doubt that cynicism and distrust of politicians has never been greater.’
  • ‘The big picture issues simply wash over people, lost in the public's distrust of politicians.’
  • ‘Such a perspective may reflect a basic distrust of the bureaucratic structures of many unions.’
  • ‘He expresses total distrust in the broad masses of the people.’
  • ‘Such traditions often express a distrust of the meditative process and warn their adherents against its practice.’
  • ‘Two major factors contributed most powerfully to the discontent and distrust expressed by the family and consumer groups.’
  • ‘Euphemisms are a quick fix for a debate context, but they breed distrust of even the most benign ideas.’
  • ‘Ambiguity breeds distrust and a loss of credibility.’
  • ‘As somebody once remarked, distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.’
  • ‘Overweening distrust of authority can lead to blindness as much as to liberation.’
  • ‘At the time he also saw deepening distrust and hostility among the races taking root.’
  • ‘Paradoxically, the distrust is further fuelled by the desertion of an assistant counsel on the team last month.’
  • ‘The distrust created in the aftermath of the scandals is still part of the landscape.’

  mistrust, suspicion, wariness, chariness, lack of trust, lack of confidence, lack of faith

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verb

• Doubt the honesty or reliability of; regard with suspicion.

  ‘speculation remained that the Army distrusted the peace process’

  • ‘They suspected his culture, distrusted his politics and opposed his economics.’
  • ‘Kelly distrusted them and suspected them of deliberate deception.’
  • ‘And really, who can blame her for distrusting the world?’
  • ‘And that is why I say, yes, it is very much about distrusting women, specifically.’
  • ‘But keeping such ill feelings and distrusting the media as a whole is unfortunate.’
  • ‘If no one knows what you really think and where you actually stand, they will end up instinctively distrusting you.’
  • ‘Hughes rarely read books and distrusted people who did - anything she did not already know she saw no point in knowing.’
  • ‘He always distrusted the military and had it intensively spied on.’
  • ‘The party militias are widely distrusted because of their partisan nature.’
  • ‘The radical leaders distrusted the private sector altogether because of its close ties to the West.’
  • ‘Like turncoats throughout history, they were in danger of ending up distrusted by both sides.’
  • ‘Descartes distrusted the senses and the imagination, but the self as res cogitans stands squarely at the centre of his philosophy.’
  • ‘My mother distrusted the parenting abilities of all my friends' parents to the point where it was embarrassing.’
  • ‘Western civilization in particular is distrusted as the modern incarnation of evil.’
  • ‘John Updike once wrote that he distrusted theories that explained men's behaviour in terms of them still being little boys.’
  • ‘However, his relentless authoritarianism as Home secretary has led him to be distrusted by many in the party.’
  • ‘Stoppages and disputes had been a problem, and many workers distrusted their managers.’
  • ‘There is nothing natural, and human biosocial defaults are always to be distrusted.’
  • ‘‘Mariana,’ I answered after a moment, distrusting the man's jovial manner.’
  • ‘Glass touched his lips, and Giles drew back, distrusting it.’

  mistrust, be suspicious of, be chary of, be wary of, regard with suspicion, suspect, look askance at, have no confidence in, have no faith in

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Distrust Distrust is a formal way of not trusting any one party too much in a situation of grave risk or deep doubt. It is commonly expressed in civics as a division or balance of powers, or in politics as means of validating treaty terms. Systems based on distrust simply divide the responsibility so that checks and balances can operate.

The phrase 'Trust, but verify' refers specifically to distrust. An electoral system or adversarial process inevitably is based on distrust, but not on mistrust. Parties compete in the system, but they do not compete to subvert the system itself, or gain bad faith advantage through it - if they do they are easily caught by the others.

Of course much mistrust does exist between parties, and it is exactly this which motivates putting in place a formal system of distrust. Diplomatic protocol for instance, which applies between states, relies on such means as formal disapproval which in effect say 'we do not trust that person'. Osu tatakae ouendan rule 34. It also tends to rely on a strict etiquette - distrusting each person's habits to signal their intent, and instead relying on a global standard for behaviour in sensitive social settings.