Trust and belief are the most common terms used together in a context or even in a conversation. Both terms might be used together, but they have different meanings.
Many people often make the mistake of jumbling them up while using them in a sentence or saying in a conversation.
Knowing the meaning between the two and when and where to use the terms is important. It often happens that during an examination, you can be asked how these two terms differ.
So, there should be no confusion because they have different meanings and are used differently according to the context.
Key Takeaways
- Trust is a feeling of reliance or confidence in someone or something, while belief is a conviction or acceptance of something as true.
- Trust requires a relationship or experience, while belief can be based on faith or evidence.
- While both are important for personal and professional relationships, trust is essential for building strong bonds and maintaining trustworthiness. At the same time, belief is more subjective and can be based on personal values or experiences.
Trust vs Believe
The difference between trust and belief is that believing in reality, whereas believing means accepting that something is not true, especially something that is without any proof; as you can see, both these terms are almost interrelated but have differences in their meaning.
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Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Trust | Believe |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Trust means believing the reliability, truth, or in someone’s ability. | Believe means accepting something true or real. |
| Noun and verb | Both noun and verb | Only verb. |
| Element of Understanding | In trust, there is that element of understanding | The element of understanding is absent in belief. |
| Examples | Relationships are built on trust. | Raj cannot believe that he has found his lost wallet. |
| Personal and Social | Trust is personal | Believe is social. |
What is Trust?
Trust means to believe in reliability or someone’s ability. It is an unseen thing that happens only in mind and is reflected in someone’s actions.
Trust is very important to have rights from your friends’ circle or colleagues to your family members.
People say they trust their family more than anyone else in the whole world, and some say they trust their friends. However, trust depends on each individual’s state of mind.
You will decide whom to trust and whom not to trust.
Say, suppose you need urgent help from somebody, then whom do you think first to call for help? The person you call for help at first is the person you trust most.
That person can be anyone because it can be your friend, family, or neighbour.
Trust takes time to build, and building trust allows one to have a better relationship with the other person. Trust can also be broken, and I think most of you have experienced the feeling of broken trust.
One can also ask to trust someone because if your intentions are pure and the other person is not yet trusting your instincts, you can ask the other person to trust you.
But, it depends on the other person to trust you because trust cannot be done forcefully as it takes time to build.
To make someone trust you, you must take desired actions to make the other person trust you.
Suppose you promise a person that you will complete a certain task for that person within a particular period of time, and you do complete it within that particular time. It becomes more likely that the other person will automatically trust you.
Trust comes from one’s personal beliefs and thoughts, which is why trust is personal because not everyone will have the same thoughts about someone.
What is Believe?
Believe means having faith in something or someone. In other words, believing means accepting something is true without proof. Believe it not like trust because believing in God has a different meaning than trusting in God.
Belief is social, and it can be both personal or impersonal because what you believe can be believed by thousands of others. The best example to take is believing in the Hinduism religion.
Well, if you are a Hindu, then you believe in the Hindu rules and regulations and the Hindu gods.
But, it is not only you who is the sole follower of Hinduism because thousands of others like you follow Hinduism.
This is the reason why belief is a social term, unlike trust. Let us take another example here: I do not believe in ghosts.
Well, the sentence means that believing in ghosts is fake because it is not true, and it is without proof.
So, the sentence here was made by a single person, but that sentence can be made another way around too. ‘My friends and I do not believe in ghosts’.
The above sentence has made it clear that belief is not personal because you cannot believe in something without proof. Another example: I believe he will pass the examination.
In this sentence, you think that the person will pass his examination, and the examination has not been conducted yet, but you think he will pass his exams.
Main Differences Between Trust and Believe
- Trust means believing in reliability or someone’s ability to do something, whereas believe means accepting something without proof.
- Trust is a noun and a verb, whereas believe is only a verb.
- Trust is said to be personal, whereas belief is social.
- Trust requires the element of understanding, whereas believe does not require that element.
- Trust cannot be forcefully done to others because trust takes time to build.
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00048409412345881
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1075547012441691
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
