Standard Lemma guide

distrustful

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S T R AH1 S T F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Experiencing distrust, showing distrust, wary, sceptical, suspicious, doubtful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: active sense

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Causing or giving rise to distrust.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: passive sense

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

having or showing distrust- B.N.Cardozo- Thomas Jefferson

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a man of distrustful nature
  • my experience...in other fields of law has made me distrustful of rules of thumb generally
  • vigilant and distrustful superintendence

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: trustful

History

Etymology

From distrust + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: недоверчив (nedoverčiv) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Bulgarian: подозрителен (podozritelen) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多疑 (duōyí) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Czech: nedůvěřivý — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Dutch: wantrouwend — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Finnish: epäluotettava — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • French: méfiant — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • French: suspicieux — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • German: misstrauisch — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Greek: δύσπιστος (dýspistos) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Greek: καχύποπτος (kachýpoptos) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Hungarian: bizalmatlan — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Hungarian: gyanakvó — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Ido: desfidema — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Indonesian: tidak percaya — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Japanese: 疑い深い (utagaibukai) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Māori: matakana — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Māori: hihira — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mistroisk — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Polish: nieufny — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Russian: недове́рчивый (nedovérčivyj) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Russian: подозри́тельный (podozrítelʹnyj) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Scottish Gaelic: amharasach — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Spanish: desconfiado — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Spanish: receloso — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Spanish: difidente — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Tagalog: walang-tiwala — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious
  • Ukrainian: недовірливий (nedovirlyvyj) — marked by distrust; doubtful; suspicious