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diffident

[dif-i-duhnt] / ˈdɪf ɪ dənt /


Example Sentences

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Mona transforms before our eyes from a diffident mother of two in an unhappy marriage into the star she always could be, though not without a few bumps in the road.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

In “One of Us,” Elizabeth Day’s shrewd novel of political ambition and personal retribution, the unlikely avenger is a diffident British art historian.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

But the overarching tone, across the board, is oddly diffident.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2025

She is as diffident and self-doubting as LuPone is fearless and forthright.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2024

His eyes were soft and irisless and brown, and suddenly I saw Roskus watching me from behind all his whitefolks’ claptrap of uniforms and politics and Harvard manner, diffident, secret, inarticulate and sad.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner


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