Mistrust and Distrust have essentially the same meaning: “to have a lack of confidence or faith in someone or something.”
Sometimes, however, distrust may sound stronger than mistrust—mistrust can mean “partial distrust,” which may be based on a gut feeling, while distrust may be based more on a evidence and a justified belief about someone's or something's trustworthiness.
Both words, however, can just about always be used in the same contexts.
How "Mistrust" is Used in a Sentence
- I mistrust her motives for wanting to help me.
- I mistrust what he said because it doesn't make sense—and because of his reputation.
- Gregorio has a mistrust of people who are too eager to be right.
- I have a lot of mistrust for people in authority.
- In the business world, mistrust can cause deals to fall through and businesses to fail.
- Ultimately, mistrust creates an environment of suspicion and insecurity that is harmful to everyone involved.
- I mistrust her character, and I will not trust him, until he stops the deceit.
- I mistrust her for taking too long to reply to my emails.
How "Distrust" is Used in a Sentence
- I distrusted his motives and knew the offer was a ploy to buy me off.
- Distrust has been building and I can smell a rat.
- It makes me upset that he distrusts me because I have always been honest with him.
- I distrusted my phone, so I threw it out; then I immediately went to pick it up because I needed to call my mom about something.
- I distrusted the government, so I left the country.
- Somehow, despite John's distrust of the sales manager, he wound up sticking around the store for an hour looking for a new air conditioner.
- Mateo was a distrusted by everyone, except Peter.