trusty
Americanadjective
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faithful or reliable
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archaic trusting
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of trusty
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at trust, -y 1
Explanation
Use trusty to describe something you can count on, especially if you've relied on it for a long time. You don't need a fancy bike—your trusty roller skates will get you to school on time! This informal adjective is perfect for talking about people and objects that are tried-and-true, even if they're a little worn out. If your friend shows off her brand new laptop, you could say, "I'm happy with my trusty old typewriter!" Before the 14th century, trusty meant "trusting." As a noun, it can also be used to mean "trustworthy person," particularly a prisoner who has shown good conduct.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She implemented wry wit like a tactical defense, a trusty tool in her arsenal that could disarm an opponent and defuse tricky conversations.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Conservative MP shared a series of photographs of him with his "trusty companion" set to Angels by Robbie Williams on social media.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Beyond Yamamoto, Ohtani and trusty veteran Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers’ back end of the rotation is still taking shape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
This year, the trusty statistical model on kenpom.com gives No. 1 seeds Duke, Arizona and Michigan a combined championship probability of 57.9%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026
In it, the tale’s heroine, Edith-Anne Pevington, enters her trusty pony, Rainbow, in a pony-and-rider show.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
The housing area involved, Aloma said, was a dorm in Module 3600 that houses 16 to 20 inmate workers known as trusties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
Wearing his trademark cowboy hat and boots, Blakely said he had fewer privileges than jail trusties and denied receiving special treatment from his former staff.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
“It’s always sad when one of the trusties has to retire,” Stenson told PGATour.com's Andrew Tursky on Tuesday at the Houston Open.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 9, 2019
A bit later, Janet took me past the guardhouse, where Sanders used to hang out with the troopers, and the driveway, where her daughter played basketball with prison trusties who worked at the mansion.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 17, 2018
The guards gave each other high fives, the inmate trusties walked away silently, and Joe sat motionlessly in his chair in the middle of the room, looking down at his feet.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Or a better, trustier reputation, as opposed to one that investors and potential customers immediately associate with stories about an oddball founder who lost a bunch of money.
From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2023
The biggest crypto execs and celebrities believe that they are the industry’s adults in the room, here to offer a better and trustier product than Bankman-Fried did.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2023
Her backhand was the trustier weapon, and Gauff drilled one down the line to claim her first game.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2022
That was enough to kick off a jam session lasting another hour, with Phumiphon, joined by some of his own royal band, switching between his brand-new clarinet and his trustier saxophone.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nay, look not forth with those deep earnest eyes To catch the gleaming of your lovers' plumes; A dearer, surer, trustier passion lies In sisters' hearts than lovers' cheeks illumes.
From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 2 August 1848 by Various
Then again, there are times when Misiorowski doesn’t need anything else besides his trustiest weapon: a fastball so good that even big-leaguers usually can’t catch up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“Yeah!” remains irresistible — and among the most successful homages to one of pop music’s trustiest syllables.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2023
The protagonist of “A Legacy of Spies” is Peter Guillam, trustiest of Smiley’s operators in the field, who has long since retired to a farm in Brittany.
From Economist ● Sep. 7, 2017
The real potential in YouNow celebrity is not that broadcasters will become movie stars some day—it’s that social media broadcasting will soon subsume film as the world’s trustiest star-making vehicle.
From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2015
An hour before he had summoned the trustiest priest in the brotherhood of ministers to Amen and bade him conduct the ceremonies of the evening.
From The Yoke A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt by Elizabeth Miller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
