# trust

Pronunciation: say "TRUST" /tɹʌst/

## Noun

1. Confidence in, or reliance on, a person, thing, or quality, including hopeful confidence in what the future will bring.
   - Simple: A feeling that you can believe in and depend on someone or something.
   - _Public trust in the government fell sharply after the scandal._
   - _Their friendship rested on a deep mutual trust._
3. A legal arrangement in which property or money is held and managed by one party (a trustee) for the benefit of another (a beneficiary); such property is said to be held in trust.
   - Simple: A legal arrangement where one person looks after money or property for the benefit of someone else.
   - _The estate was placed in a trust for the children._
   - _A family trust shielded the assets from probate._
8. A combination of businesses or traders organized for mutual benefit to produce and distribute goods or services, run by a central board of trustees.
   - Simple: A large group of companies joined together to control an industry and reduce competition.
   - _The railroad trust set prices across the entire region._
   - _Reformers campaigned against the powerful sugar trust._
9. A duty or responsibility held by someone who has been given care or control of something, or a position involving such duty; also, the thing placed in one's care.
   - Simple: A duty to look after something given to you, a job with that duty, or the thing itself.
   - _A judge occupies one of the highest positions of trust in society._
   - _Betraying so high a trust would end his career._
11. Confidence that goods or services supplied now will be paid for in the future; credit.
   - Simple: The belief that a customer will pay later for goods given now.
   - _Local farmers often bought seed on trust before the harvest._
   - _The corner store sold on trust, and families paid at the end of the month._
12. In computing and security, confidence that a user, system, key, or certificate is genuine and reliable, or a relationship that lets one system accept another's authentication.
   - Simple: In computers, the confidence that a user, program, or system really is what it claims to be.
   - _The server establishes trust before allowing any data transfer._
   - _Administrators revoke trust when an employee leaves the company._

## Verb

2. To have confidence in a person or thing and rely on their honesty, ability, or support; also, to be generally willing to believe and rely on others.
   - Simple: To believe that someone or something is honest, good, or reliable, and to depend on them.
   - _Voters trust experienced leaders during a crisis._
   - _She trusted the surgeon completely before the operation._
4. To give credence to; to believe or credit what is said or claimed.
   - Simple: To believe that what someone says is true.
   - _Few readers trust rumors that lack any source._
   - _He refused to trust the witness's account._
5. To hope confidently; to believe that something is or will be the case, usually with a clause as the object.
   - Simple: To hope strongly that something is true or will happen.
   - _I trust the arrangements meet with your approval._
   - _She trusted that her efforts would not go unnoticed._
7. To show confidence in someone by placing a responsibility or possession in their care.
   - Simple: To rely on someone enough to put something important in their care.
   - _The director trusts her deputy with every major decision._
   - _Would you trust your neighbor with a spare key to your house?_

## Interjection

6. Short for trust me: used to tell someone to believe what you are saying. *(slang)* — Ellipsis of trust me.
   - Simple: Short way of saying trust me. Used to tell someone you mean what you say.
   - _That place has the best tacos in town, trust._
   - _Trust, he knows exactly what he's doing._

## Noun

10. The quality of being trustworthy; dependability or reliability in a person or thing. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The quality of being someone people can count on.

## Verb

13. To risk something or venture it confidently, committing it to chance or to another's keeping. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To risk something by putting it in someone else's care or leaving it to chance.

## Adjective

14. Faithful and dependable; worthy of reliance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Loyal and able to be depended on.
15. Secure or safe; free from danger or risk. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Safe and free from danger.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The person or thing in which confidence is placed; the basis of one's reliance or hope.
- (verb) To sell or hand over goods to someone on credit, relying on their promise to pay later.

## Origin

Middle English had trust or trost, meaning "trust, protection." Scholars long took it as a loan from Old Norse traust ("confidence, help, protection"), but its vowel does not match. The current view is that it continues an Old English *trust that was never recorded, built on an uncommon Proto-Germanic form of the same root. Its ultimate source is *deru-, a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "be firm, hard, solid." Tryst is a doublet, and true and tree are related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trust (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).