trust - Dictionary definition and pronunciation

trust

(tr

st) KEY

NOUN:

Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.
Custody; care.
Something committed into the care of another; charge.
1. The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one: violated a public trust.
2. One in which confidence is placed.
Reliance on something in the future; hope.
Reliance on the intention and ability of a purchaser to pay in the future; credit.
Law
1. A legal title to property held by one party for the benefit of another.
2. The confidence reposed in a trustee when giving the trustee legal title to property to administer for another, together with the trustee's obligation regarding that property and the beneficiary.
3. The property so held.
A combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business or an industry.

VERB:
trust·ed , trust·ing , trusts
VERB:
intr.

To have or place reliance; depend: Trust in the Lord. Trust to destiny.
To be confident; hope.
To sell on credit.

VERB:
tr.

To have or place confidence in; depend on.
To expect with assurance; assume: I trust that you will be on time.
To believe: I trust what you say.
To place in the care of another; entrust.
To grant discretion to confidently: Can I trust them with the boat?
To extend credit to.

IDIOM:
in trust

In the possession or care of a trustee.

ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English truste, perhaps from Old Norse traust, confidence; see deru- in Indo-European roots

OTHER FORMS:
truster (Noun)

SYNONYMS:
trust , faith , confidence , reliance , dependence

These nouns denote a feeling of certainty that a person or thing will not fail. Trust implies depth and assurance of feeling that is often based on inconclusive evidence: The mayor vowed to justify the trust the electorate had placed in him. Faith connotes unquestioning, often emotionally charged belief: "Often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true" (William James). Confidence, frequently implies stronger grounds for assurance: "Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom: youth is the season of credulity" (William Pitt). Reliance connotes a confident and trustful commitment to another: "What reliance could they place on the protection of a prince so recently their enemy?" (William Hickling Prescott). Dependence suggests reliance on another to whom one is often subordinate: "When I had once called him in, I could not subsist without Dependence on him" (Richard Steele). See also Synonyms at care, rely.

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Definition of trust