These words denote the feeling that a person or thing will not fail in loyalty, duty or service. Trust and faith suggest the greatest degree of conviction in this context. Trust indicates a feeling of certainty that someone or something will not fail in any situation where protection, discretion or fairness is essential: their trust in us to defend them if they are attacked; placing her trust in him to keep her secret; unwilling to put any trust in banks. The word emphasizes this feeling of certainty whether it is justified or misguided: an investigation proving that their trust in him was warranted; misplaced trust in a man who turned out to be a charlatan. Faith is an intensification of trust , suggesting an even deeper conviction of fidelity and integrity, often in spite of no evidence whatever or even in the face of contrary evidence: faith in her son’s goodness despite innumerable examples of his inability to keep out of trouble; blind faith in his wife’s loyalty; an unquestioning faith in the curative powers of psychiatry. The word emphasizes such a deep-seated conviction that it is appropriate in a religious context to refer to belief based on steadfast loyalty rather than on demonstrable evidence: a simple, pious faith that remained unshakable in the face of every misfortune.

Confidence and reliance more often suggest trust based on the proven reliability of someone or something. One can intuitively trust someone at first glance, rightly or wrongly, but confidence suggests a conviction born of time-tested familiarity. Also, it pertains specifically to a feeling that someone or something will not fail or behave differently from the way it has in the past: a sales record that merits the confidence of his employers; confidence in his ability to survive the crisis; a diabetic’s confidence in the efficacy of insulin. Sometimes the word is detached from any notion of evidence as a basis for trust : a buoyant confidence that things would somehow work out all right in time. Reliance is even more specific than confidence , pointing to an actual dependence on something else, whether out of choice or necessity: speeding along with complete reliance on the effectiveness of his brakes. Often it suggests the need for protection of the weak by the strong: the reliance of emerging countries on the foreign-aid programmes of the word’s affluent nations. Sometimes reliance indicates something that is resorted to as a solution to a specific problem: the government’s reliance on increased taxes to bring in more revenue to support the public-works programme.