Mistrustfully

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner that indicates an absence of faith in someone's honesty or dependability
2. Done in a way that expresses suspicion or hesitation about someone's intentions
3. Acting with a sense of doubt regarding the truthfulness or reliability of another

Etymology: "Mistrustfully" is a plain formation: the adjective "mistrustful" with the adverbial suffix "-ly" added. The adjective itself is built from "mistrust" (a compound of "mis-", a prefix meaning wrongly or badly, and "trust") and the suffix "-ful", meaning full of. So the word means, literally, in a manner full of wrongly placed trust, or rather full of the lack of it. The ending traces back much further than English. The suffix descends from a Proto-Germanic form "*-līkaz", which meant having the body or form of something, related to the word "like" in its sense of similar. Over the centuries this developed into the Old English "-līċe" and then the Middle English "-ly", which is why so many English adverbs end in that sound. Its ultimate ancestor is the same root that gives English "like" and "lich," the old word for a corpse, which shows how far a common-looking ending can drift from its original sense.

Synonyms: suspiciously, distrustfully, doubtfully, skeptically, warily

Antonyms: trustfully, confidently, faithfully, assuredly, openly