timid

His captaincy towards the end of his previous tenure was marked by criticisms of a timid approach that failed to bring the best from England's batting talents.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

But de Brouwer said the EU was "timid" about enforcing the law.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

This wasn’t a timid outfit in their Waldo jerseys—this team went out and took it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

“Before he entered politics, Wilson would describe the American people as ‘selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn and foolish.’”

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026

What could the boy Rowan, the shy, timid herder of the bukshah, have to say?

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

The timider of the guilty pair drank unwarily, not knowing what was offered to him, and fell into a fit of coughing.

From VC — A Chronicle of Castle Barfield and of the Crimea by David Christie Murray

She'd eat me," said the spider, "and, anyhow, the competition on the wall is dreadful, and the flies are getting wiser and timider every season.

From The Crock of Gold by James Stephens

But anon, imbued With a sudden, bounding access Of passion, it relaxes All timider persuasion.

From Dreams and Days: Poems by George Parsons Lathrop

Often the little timider ones were called on to repeat the rhyme alone, without singing it, and then to sing it alone with the teacher.

From Education in The Home, The Kindergarten, and The Primary School by Elizabeth P. (Palmer) Peabody

At the top of the companion—ladder Melissa stood waiting for us, demure, but subdued, with a still timider look than ever upon that sweet, shrinking, small face of hers.

From Stories by English Authors: the Sea by Various

But there is an Aunt Milly that Anne didn't seem to know about and, Claire, she is human—the dearest, sweetest, prettiest, timidest little thing.

From Happy House by Jane D. Abbott

To give you a clue, recollect that he was the timidest of souls. 

From Bunyan Characters (2nd Series) by Alexander Whyte

It was always upon some perfectly innocent nothing, which the timidest son might have permitted himself, that the wrath of Darius overwhelmingly burst.

From Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett

I like to know what two observing eyes saw and the feelings that sometimes made the timidest heroes—sometimes cravens.

From The Iron Game A Tale of the War by Henry F. (Henry Francis) Keenan

But delays are ever dangerous, and Mr. Price's friend was the timidest of the most timid men.

From The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877 by George Stewart