diffident

Synonyms for diffident

adj hesitant; unconfident

adjective. very modest

adjective. reserved, affected

mid-15c., from Latin diffidentem (nominative diffidens), present participle of diffidere (see diffidence). Related: Diffidently.

The diffident took heart before him, and the presumptuous were checked.

She spoke with diffident slowness, her gaze fastened upon her plate.

The tone of his voice, now soft and diffident, startled Hardy out of his dream.

Barrington was the most diffident of men; his bashfulness amounted to actual pain.

Edith, funny and diffident, now rose and addressed the class.

But you forget how diffident M. de Bois is, how distrustful of his own merits.

Denison, in a diffident manner, said that he had not exactly had much.

It was so faint and diffident a knock, no wonder it passed unheeded.

I shall say nothing of the miseries which embittered the life of the diffident boy.

In the matter of avowals the diffident never speak if they can write.