diffident

Definitions

1. Lacking confidence in others; distrustful.
   archaic
2. shy, timid, bashful, coy
3. Lacking self-confidence; timid; modest

Equivalents

Examples

“Having therefore—but hold⟳, as we are diffident of our own⟳ abilities, let⟳ us here invite⟳ a superior power to our assistance.”

“Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family. At ten years old, she had the misfortune of being able to answer⟳ questions which puzzled her sister at seventeen. She was always quick and assured: Isabella slow and diffident.”

“At an early point⟳ in these exchanges I had started to sidle to the door, and I now sidled through it, rather like⟳ a diffident crab on some sandy beach trying to avoid⟳ the attentions of a child with a spade.”

CEFR level