MISTRUST

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mistrust mean? 

• MISTRUST (noun)
  The noun MISTRUST has 2 senses:

1. doubt about someone's honesty

2. the trait of not trusting others

  Familiarity information: MISTRUST used as a noun is rare.

• MISTRUST (verb)
  The verb MISTRUST has 1 sense:

1. regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in

  Familiarity information: MISTRUST used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISTRUST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Doubt about someone's honesty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

distrust; misgiving; mistrust; suspicion

Hypernyms ("mistrust" is a kind of...):

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)

Derivation:

mistrust (regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The trait of not trusting others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

distrust; distrustfulness; mistrust

Hypernyms ("mistrust" is a kind of...):

trait (a distinguishing feature of your personal nature)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mistrust"):

suspicion; suspiciousness (being of a suspicious nature)

Derivation:

mistrust (regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in)

• MISTRUST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they mistrust    ... he / she / it mistrusts   
Past simple: mistrusted   
Past participle: mistrusted   
-ing form: mistrusting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

distrust; mistrust; suspect

Hypernyms (to "mistrust" is one way to...):

disbelieve; discredit (reject as false; refuse to accept)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mistrust"):

doubt (lack confidence in or have doubts about)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to mistrust the prisoners

Antonym:

trust (have confidence or faith in)

Derivation:

mistrust (the trait of not trusting others)

mistrust (doubt about someone's honesty)

 Context examples 

You see, I mistrust you still, though you have borne up wonderfully so far.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“It's late. You don't mistrust me?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted myself.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

They illustrate the importance of the impressions that people belonging to different groups form about one another, in terms of the mistrust, fear, or anger, for instance, that sometimes underlie inter-group interactions.

(White people’s perceptions of the emotions on black people’s faces are less accurate than their perceptions among other white people, University of Granada)

It moved with commingled mistrust and daring, cautiously observing the men, its attention fixed on the dogs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust!

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

And as she could now have nothing more painful to hear on the subject than had already been told, she did not mistrust her own ability of going through a repetition of particulars with composure.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The time had been, when I should have been uneasy in her going; but reflection on what had passed that former night in the Doctor's study, had made a change in my mistrust.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Jane, you are docile, diligent, disinterested, faithful, constant, and courageous; very gentle, and very heroic: cease to mistrust yourself—I can trust you unreservedly.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

By concentrating on a person’s gaze, it’s more likely that we will avoid some of the more harmful effects of the mistrust and lack of identification we feel towards people from groups other than our own.

(White people’s perceptions of the emotions on black people’s faces are less accurate than their perceptions among other white people, University of Granada)