untrustworthy

If someone is untrustworthy, you would not feel safe relying on them to keep a secret, tell the truth, or do what they promised to do. Think of a character in a story who keeps bending the rules and leaves other people feeling let down. It is more than making a simple mistake once. It suggests a pattern of lying, hiding things, or not doing what they said they would do. A leaky roof might be unreliable, but a friend who keeps lying is untrustworthy.

Imagine that you lend your favorite comic book to someone, and later they say they never got it. Or picture a politician making big promises during a campaign with no real plan to keep them. These are examples of this kind of behavior. It slowly breaks trust, which is one of the basic parts of any strong relationship or community.

The word "untrustworthy" describes a person, statement, or thing that cannot be relied on to be honest, true, or dependable. It usually suggests more than a one-time mistake. When people use this word, they often mean there is a pattern of lying, misleading others, breaking promises, or acting in ways that make confidence disappear.

You might call a person untrustworthy if they often lie, cheat, hide important facts, or say one thing and do another. For example, an untrustworthy witness is someone whose words are hard to believe. The word can also be used for things. An untrustworthy source gives false or shaky information, and an untrustworthy guide or map may lead you in the wrong direction.

The opposite is trustworthy, which is a quality people value in friends, family members, coworkers, leaders, and anyone handling important information or responsibilities. Being untrustworthy is not always about some huge act of betrayal. It can also show up in smaller repeated actions, such as sharing secrets, making promises and not keeping them, or changing the story whenever it is convenient.

Think of the boy who cried wolf. After he lied again and again, people stopped believing him, even when the danger became real. That is the heart of the word: once someone keeps showing that they cannot be believed or counted on, trust starts to fall apart. In everyday English, "untrustworthy" is a strong but common way to say that someone or something does not deserve confidence.