To feel absence of trust in; not to confide in or rely upon; to deem of questionable sufficiency or reality; to doubt; to be suspicious of; to mistrust.
Doubt of sufficiency, reality, or sincerity; lack of confidence, faith, or reliance; as, distrust of one's power, authority, will, purposes, schemes, etc.
Distrust is a formal way of not trusting any one party too much in a situation of grave risk or deep doubt. It is commonly expressed in civics as a division or balance of powers, or in politics as means of validating treaty terms. Systems based on distrust simply divide the responsibility so that checks and balances can operate.