A reliable person is trustworthy.
The adjective reliable is used to describe someone or something that provides security , offers guarantees or is reliable . It can be a person, an object, a procedure, etc.
For example: “I need a reliable accountant to help me organize the company's accounts. Do you know any professionals to recommend me?” , “I'm not going to publish anything about it until I receive reliable information : I don't want us to be wrong” , “The mechanic told me that this truck has a very reliable engine” .
The word reliable is used especially in Spain, while in Latin America reliable is preferred. Although they are synonyms, some dictionaries assure that the first includes the second in that they speak of something or someone "trustworthy" but it also has the connotation that the reliable thing or subject "offers good results and a some security ."
Examples of trustworthy people and things
It is possible to trust a reliable individual. Suppose a woman who lives alone plans to go on vacation. Faced with this situation, he decides to leave the key to his house with a neighbor so that he can water the plants and check that everything is in order. The woman will choose to give the key to the neighbor who seems most trustworthy: that is, who she does not believe could steal from her or abuse her trust.
A reliable product , on the other hand, is one that does not frequently fail and is therefore expected to function correctly for a long time . A reliable car, in this framework, does not break down frequently nor does it usually require mechanical assistance.
Nowadays it is increasingly difficult to find reliable products, even among the most expensive ones. Unlike what happened a few decades ago, today dedication to finishing a product is very rare: the materials are usually much more fragile, quality control is no longer as strict and there is a large percentage of units defective ones that reach the stores. This is due to several reasons, among them the need to release new articles more frequently than before.
That which provides security or guarantees can be classified as reliable.
The case of telephones
Take the case of mobile phones, one of the best-selling products today. First of all, it is worth remembering that the market model on which telephone companies rely is very particular: they offer the units at very high prices but with the convenience of paying them in many installments without any guarantee , but simply signing a long-term contract. term. This opportunity is irresistible to us every year, when new terminals come out, but what happens if we don't renew ours?
These products are among those that present the most failures in the first weeks of use, and those that deteriorate the most just a few years after their acquisition. Can we say that mobile phones are reliable products? The answer is complex, since it is not fair to generalize, but it is true that even the leading brands often offer finishes that leave much to be desired, and that withstand the twelve months that companies need to launch a new model.
Reliable methods
Many times we also talk about reliable methods or mechanisms . To know if a woman is pregnant, a reliable method is the test that analyzes the urine in search of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, produced only when there is pregnancy . Although there are “false positives” , this method is considered reliable since its margin of error is small (it is usually 99% effective).
Although in each professional and scientific field there are certain reliable methods that are known to everyone, this concept is not subject to any jargon, since anyone is free to call in this way a procedure that works for them very frequently and that offers you the best possible results.