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Could you explain to me please the difference between "trust" and "entrust" by the following examples?

thefreedictionary.com:
(1a) I entrusted this secret to her.
my variant:
(1b) I trusted this secret to her.
What is the difference between (1a) & (1b)?

britannica.com:
(2a) entrust your car to a friend = entrust a friend with your car
my variant:
(2b) trust your car to a friend = trust a friend with your car
What is the difference between (2a) & (2b)?


Update:
Proceeding from FumbleFingers' comments and Sam's answer, I understood that the construction "to trust smth to smn" is unnatural to them. So, in order for this thing not to distract attention from the difference in meaning anymore, I think it's better for me to rewrite the question in a more clear way:

(3a) to entrust her with this secret
(3b) to trust her with this secret
What is the difference between (3a) & (3b)?

(4a) to entrust a friend with your car
(4b) to trust a friend with your car
What is the difference between (4a) & (4b)?

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  • Your (b) versions are syntactically invalid. To trust X means to have faith that X will behave the way you want - a "generic" assertion which can be extended / particularized to, for example, I trust John to do this specific thing. The sequence I entrust X is not valid without some explicitly specified complement - for example, I entrust John with my baby, I entrusted my baby to John. But be warned that "valid" use of entrust is a minefield even for many native speakers - you'd be well advised to avoid using it completely! Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 13:56
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    Note that - as pointed out above - "to behave the way I want" is implicit in I trust John even with, for example I trust John with my car (I have faith that he will behave the way I want when he is using my car; I don't expect him to crash it!). Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 14:01
  • @FumbleFingers You wrote (1b) & (2b) are syntactically invalid. Do you mean "to trust smth to smn" is an incorrect construction? If so, then why does a dictionary have it?: to trust smth to smn - to give the responsibility of doing smth to smn: They trusted the care of their daughter to her grandparents while they were on vacation.
    – Loviii
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 14:30
  • Well, I suppose "valid syntax" for trust is just as vague as for entrust in some contexts. Personally, I don't accept that example They trusted the care of their daughter to her grandparents while they were on vacation - to me, only the verb entrust works in that exact context. As you can probably see, that's exactly the same syntactic structure as your (b) examples, which are also unacceptable to me.... Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 14:44
  • I can't read any written instances of she trusted her baby to (someone who she trusted to look after her baby). That's the construction I'm saying I don't like. But there are dozens of written instances of she entrusted her baby to (a childminder, wetnurse, etc.). So I say forget the dictionary and believe what people write. Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 14:48

3 Answers 3

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The general difference in usage between the verbs trust and entrust is that the former usually infers a temporary or conditional handover of limited responsibility/scope that does not abdicate any inherent responsibility of the trustor, whereas the latter is a formal handover or bestowing of responsibility for something.

For example, a parent sends their children to school and trusts the school to take care of their general welfare while they are there. That trust is limited to while the children are in school, and the parent has not abdicated parental responsibility. However, you could say that the parent has entrusted the school with the child's education because the school is entirely responsible for that.

There are other examples where one is 'entrusted' with something on a temporary or limited basis but generally speaking, this describes a much more formal handover of trust or responsibility for something. For example, you have "trust" among your friends and yet there is unlikely to have been some formal handover of trust or agreement that you could point to - friends just develop trust over time, and sometimes one's trust is misplaced! But when something is entrusted, the trustee should not be in any doubt that they have received responsibility. For example, if it was said that an employee was "entrusted with managing the team" it would be formal, written into their job description. There was a specific point at which they were entrusted with that responsibility and clear definitions of what it entails.

There may also be certain subjects that could be entrusted, or given to someone in trust. Taking just one of your examples, that of a secret - you could trust many people with the same secret by telling it to them. The trust you have is that they will not tell it to anybody else. In this scenario, nobody is exclusively 'holding' that secret, so it hasn't really been 'entrusted'. However, let's say your secret is a family recipe that has been handed down through generations. You might say that you 'entrusted' that secret with one specific family member, for them to 'keep' that secret and ultimately to pass it on to a future generation of the family. In that scenario, they have been "entrusted" as it is formal, they are custodians of something, and they have a responsibility to entrust it to someone else in the future.

I'm not going to address each of your examples individually because firstly that would be akin to proofreading which is off-topic and secondly correcting mistakes doesn't teach you why something is right or wrong. Hopefully this will help you comprehend the difference between the two so that you'll be able to correct your own examples and any others you encounter.

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  • [trust] infers a temporary handover of limited responsibility. That is simply not true; there is not handover of responsibility. "He doesn't trust his girlfriend",
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 26 at 15:33
  • @lambie but it is true. You might trust your girlfriend not to cheat on you, but would you trust them to pilot an aircraft? Trust has limited scope. It is also conditional - if your girlfriend did cheat on you, the trust ends.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Nov 26 at 16:22
  • No, I would not trust a person to pilot an aircraft if they do not know how to fly. The example is spurious.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 26 at 16:25
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"trusted" and "entrusted" have different meanings and aren't interchangeable. Most of your (b) examples are wrong.

  1. Entrust - this means to give something to somebody (temporarily or permanently) with the idea they will take care of it. You would specify both the object and indirect object. "He entrusted the car to the friend". object -> car, indirect object -> friend.

  2. Trust - this means to believe someone is dependable. "He trusted his friend". In this case the direct object is the person.

If you'd like to add a physical object into the scenario with the word "trust", it might become "He trusted his friend with the car". Notice how the grammar is constructed. The direct object is still the person, who is trusted, which means "believed to be reliable, dependable, safe, trustworthy, to act in the expected way". The word "trust" refers to your opinion of the person.

Your opinion of the person is they will not crash the car.

The word "entrust" is a drop-in replacement for the word "give". The sentence must mention the thing being given.

Certainly there are similarities in the two meanings, and it's not a coincidence they appear to be almost the same word.

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  • Please, see the update I did at the end of my original post.
    – Loviii
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 3:04
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  • to entrust a friend with your car

  • to trust a friend with your car.

  • The first means you handover the car to your friend, temporarily or forever. Only context will tell you which.

  • The second means that when your friend drives your car, you think they will take good care of it and not have an accident.

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  • Disregard the downvote, this answer is correct.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 26 at 16:26

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