Mistrust
Verb
Pronunciation and accent: mIstrVst
Etymology: it is analysable into mis- (prefix with negative implication) and trust.
Third-person singular simple present: she/he mistrusts
Indicative past, past participle: mistrusted
Present participle: mistrusting
Transitively:
First definition: not to trust, to think suspect, to have no confidence in (a person)
Antonyms: to trust, overtrust, confide in
Synonyms: to distrust, diffide in
It may be approximately translated by méfier, in French; desconfiar de, in Spanish; diffidare di, in Italian.
I mistrust a flatterer.
Frederick Robinson (The house of Elmore)
Mr. Fitzpatrick, particularly, knows I have no reason to mistrust Mr. Garrick, nor does he entertain the least doubt of your good wishes for me.
The private correspondence of David Garrick
[…] if I were to stay in the Lower House and speak for what I have before opposed, I should forfeit the support of a great portion of my own party. Hated by one body, and mistrusted by the other, a seat in the House of Commons ceases to be an object.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (Paul Clifford)
Being an American, he was mistrusted by the Mexican authorities.
Clarence Wharton (The republic of Texas)
"I am sorry I have offended you!" said Mrs. Maroney quickly. "Please forgive me! I am so nervous that for a time I mistrusted even you and thought you had gone for a policeman or a detective; let's have dinner and go."
Allan Pinkerton (The Expressman and the Detective)
The more he felt himself uncomprehended and mistrusted by his countrymen, the more personal became the character, and the more unscrupulous the course, of his ambition.
Lord Lytton (Pausanias)
***Reciprocally:
Suppose that the people of Europe, instead of mistrusting each other, entertaining jealousy of each other, hating each other, become fast friends.
Henry Lee (The Lee readers)
[…] the two groups mistrusted each other.
John Vernon (The Last Canyon)
There was a restraint and lack of spontaneity about their conversation of which both were acutely conscious. […] It had come with the entry of death. They conversed hurriedly and guardedly, as if they mistrusted each other.
Arthur J. Rees (The Hand in the Dark)
***Reflexively: to have no confidence in oneself; to be unassured of one’s own power, ability, etc.
I hate London […]. I never could feel at home there. I mistrusted myself and every one else, and never knew what true happiness was, until I returned to the unaffected simplicity of a country life.
Susanna Moodie (Geoffrey Mocton)
One moment she mistrusted herself; the next she was reassured. Who can tell but that on leaving for Paris she had the secret hope of again meeting Bancal?
The Knickerbocker
[Rotrou] once received two or three hundred louis, and mistrusting himself, went and hid them under some vine-branches, in order not to gamble all away at once.
Andrew Steinmetz (The gaming table)
Sally had looked at him, wondering and in amazement; but she had said nothing, mistrusting herself to speak.
Ernest Thurston (Sally Bishop)
Second definition: not to trust (a thing); this is, to have no confidence in, or to be unassured of (something); doubt the goodness of (it)
Antonyms: to trust, overtrust, confide in
Synonyms: to distrust, diffide in; have doubt about
It may be approximately translated by méfier, in French; desconfiar de, in Spanish; diffidare di, in Italian.
Slowly, and with increased difficulty, the foremost of the body-guard made their way through the jungul, breaking down a passage for their chief; but as they fell frequently into concealed ravines, and swamps, and blackened water-courses, by neglecting or mistrusting the directions of the guide, […].
Thomas Bacon (The Oriental annual)
It was pretty clear that he regretted his late outbreak, and that he mistrusted its effect on Mr Pecksniff; for as often as that gentleman glanced towards Mr Jonas, he found Mr Jonas glancing at him, which was a new source of embarrassment.
Charles Dickens (Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit)
That interesting personage stood in the midst; in one hand he held a colonial hat, ingeniously fabricated from the skin of a kangaroo, with the hairy side outwards; and in the other he upheld the mysterious letter; peering into it with curious eye, and with an odd expression of countenance, as if he half doubted and half mistrusted the contents of the epistle.
Charles Rowcroft (Tales of the Colonies)
[…] they mistrust their own merit.
Samuel Richardson (Clarissa)
With a sad shake of the head, as if she mistrusted my attempt to reassure her, she quitted the room, whilst I obeyed Ellis's instructions by preparing the bed.
Frank E. Smedley (Frank Fairlegh)
It was further agreed that he should not present himself to Mr. Sleary, lest his intentions should be mistrusted […].
Charles Dickens (Hard Times)
[…] I shall mistrust my memory.
Samuel Richardson (Pamela)
I therefore mistrust the genuineness of the signature. If not forged, it has been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation.
William Harrison Ainsworth (The Star-Chamber)
Obsolete use: to suspect the existence, or the occurrence, of (something) while being distrustful of something or someone relative to it; surmise
The saloon-keeper evidently mistrusted some danger to Duncan, from the detective's inquiries, and Manning was inclined to believe that the fugitive had stopped there during his stay in Bozeman, and that the proprietor of the saloon had attempted to deceive him and turn him off from the tracks of the unfortunate burglar.
Allan Pinkerton (The Burglar's … and the Detectives)
It was exactly because he had his staff, and presented so quaint an aspect, that she mistrusted his making the journey.
Charles Dickens (Our Mutual Friend)
[…] he, not mistrusting their plot, bought them what they wanted.
Robert Kerr (A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels)
***The object of the verb was a clause:
[…] he neither knew or mistrusted that, with all this wealth, I was yet a whore.
Daniel Defoe (Novels and miscellaneous works)
Nicholas White learned from Harry Knollys, […] among other details of Mary’s reluctance to be transported from Bolton to Tutbury Castle, that she had angrily exclaimed “that the Secretary Cecil was her enemy, and that she mistrusted by this removing that he would cause her to be made away with […]”
Agnes Strickland (Lives of the queens of Scotland)
Intransitively:
Definition: to feel distrust; to be unassured, or without confidence
