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Are mistrust and distrust synonyms?

And if so, how have two such similar words coexist for so long? Google N-grams suggests the two words have coexisted since the 1700's.

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    You distrust someone because he is bad; you mistrust someone because you have been too naiive. I distrust touts; people's mistrust in touts keeps them going. Juz kiddin' :)
    – Kris
    Nov 21, 2014 at 5:46

5 Answers 5

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The Grammarist has a discussion on these words:

Distrust and mistrust are roughly the same. Both mean (1) lack of trust or (2) to regard without trust. But distrust is often based on experience or reliable information, while mistrust is often a general sense of unease toward someone or something. For example, you might distrust the advice of someone who has given you bad tips in the past, and you might mistrust advice from a stranger.

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[However,] mistrust is most often used as simply a variant of distrust.

That sums up my thoughts pretty well. I like the distinction, but often people don't recognize it.

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    I think that mistrust could also be used to mean "trusting someone/thing incorrectly" in the same way that misunderstand could mean "understanding someone/thing incorrectly".
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    Jul 5, 2012 at 16:01
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    Online Etymology Dictionary notes that mistrust came first, attested in the late 14C. Distrust (v.) appeared early 15C, and distrust (n.) early 16C. It adds: "The etymologically correct form is mistrust, in which both elements are Teutonic" [Klein]. So distrust seems to have entered the language as a hypercorrection of mistrust based on the use of the dis- prefix with other words.
    – MetaEd
    Jul 5, 2012 at 17:43
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    @FrustratedWithFormsDesigner I thought that was well, but I checked a dictionary and don't see any definition along the lines of 'trusting someone incorrectly'.
    – Jordan Bentley
    Jul 5, 2012 at 19:08
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Consider disuse and misuse. By extension, distrust should mean an absence of trust (cf disinterest) while mistrust should mean active suspicion.

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I think distrust has evolved to become the active-voice form of mistrust.

Consider the following sentences:

I distrust our gardener. -vs- I mistrust our gardener.
--the first form sounds more correct.

Hate and mistrust are the children of blindness. -vs- Hate and distrust are the children of blindness. --again, the first form sounds more correct in the current era.

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It seems to me that when we compare those words which contain the prefix mis-, and those which contain dis-, the mis- prefix more often denotes a wrongful action, as in a mistake, whereas the dis- prefix seems more to denote the intentional and not incorrect negative such as disagree or disregard. Therefore to distrust would seem to me to be the rational, intentional and calculated decision to not trust, whereas to mistrust seems to me to sound more like trusting that which should not be trusted or to trust mistakenly. I know that is not the meaning but given the way the prefixes are most often used, it would seem to me that the words would make more sense that way.

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  • You are right in that that is not the meaning of mistrust.
    – Chenmunka
    Jun 16, 2015 at 15:07
  • This answer feels like a distake
    – Tim Randall
    Nov 13, 2018 at 17:57
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Distrust can be used as a noun and a verb. Mistrust, however, is purely a verb.

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