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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

trust.

Confidence in or reliance on some person or quality.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɹʌst/[t͡ʃʰɹ̥ʌst]/tɹɐst/Australia/tɹʊst/Northern-England
  1. Confidence in or reliance on some person or quality.

    countable · uncountable
    He needs to regain her trust if he is ever going to win her back.
    to lose trust in someone
  2. Dependence upon something in the future; hope.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Confidence in the future payment for goods or services supplied; credit.

    countable · uncountable
    I was out of cash, but the landlady let me have it on trust.
  4. That which is committed or entrusted; something received in confidence; a charge.

    countable · uncountable
  5. That upon which confidence is reposed; ground of reliance; hope.

    countable · uncountable
  6. Trustworthiness, reliability.

    countable · rare · uncountable
  7. The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office.

    countable · uncountable
  8. The confidence vested in a person who has legal ownership of a property to manage for the benefit of another.

    countable · uncountable
    I put the house into my sister's trust.
  9. An arrangement whereby property or money is given to be held by a third party (a trustee), on the basis that it will be managed for the benefit of, or eventually transferred to, a stated beneficiary; for example, money to be given to a child when he or she reaches adulthood.

    countable · uncountable
  10. A group of businessmen or traders organised for mutual benefit to produce and distribute specific commodities or services, and managed by a central body of trustees.

    countable · uncountable
  11. Affirmation of the access rights of a user of a computer system.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), Luxembourgish Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (trausti, “covenant, pact”). Doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.

verb/tɹʌst/[t͡ʃʰɹ̥ʌst]/tɹɐst/Australia/tɹʊst/Northern-England
  1. To place confidence in, to rely on, to confide in.

    transitive
    We cannot trust anyone who deceives us.
  2. To have faith in; to rely on for continuing support or aid.

    intransitive
    In God We Trust
  3. To give credence to; to believe; to credit.

    transitive
  4. To hope confidently; to believe (usually with a phrase or infinitive clause as the object)

    transitive
    I trust you have cleaned your room?
  5. to show confidence in a person by entrusting them with something.

    transitive
  6. To commit, as to one's care; to entrust.

    transitive
  7. To give credit to; to sell to upon credit, or in confidence of future payment.

    transitive
    Merchants and manufacturers trust their customers annually with goods.
  8. To rely on (something), as though having trust (on it).

    intransitive · with-to
    to trust to luck
    Having lost the book, he had to trust to his memory for further details.
  9. To risk; to venture confidently.

    archaic · transitive
  10. To have trust; to be credulous; to be won to confidence; to confide.

    intransitive
  11. To sell or deliver anything in reliance upon a promise of payment; to give credit.

    archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), Luxembourgish Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (trausti, “covenant, pact”). Doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.

adj/tɹʌst/[t͡ʃʰɹ̥ʌst]/tɹɐst/Australia/tɹʊst/Northern-England
  1. Secure, safe.

    obsolete
  2. Faithful, dependable.

    obsolete
  3. of or relating to a trust.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), Luxembourgish Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (trausti, “covenant, pact”). Doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.

intj/tɹʌst/[t͡ʃʰɹ̥ʌst]/tɹɐst/Australia/tɹʊst/Northern-England
  1. Ellipsis of trust me, often used sarcastically or self-mockingly.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · slang
    You'll get your money back bro, trust.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), Luxembourgish Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (trausti, “covenant, pact”). Doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.