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Definition of Diffident
1. Adjective. Showing modest reserve. "She was diffident when offering a comment on the professor's lecture"
2. Adjective. Lacking self-confidence. "A very unsure young man"
Attributes: Confidence
Antonyms: Confident
Derivative terms: Diffidence, Shyness, Timidness
Definition of Diffident
1. a. Wanting confidence in others; distrustful.
Definition of Diffident
1. Adjective. (archaic) : Lacking confidence in others; distrustful. ¹
2. Adjective. Lacking confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Diffident
1. [adj]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Diffident
Literary usage of Diffident
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1889)
"1804), painter, executed some original works of great merit, which passed almost
unnoticed owing to his retired and diffident nature and the seclusion in ..."
2. The Works of Hannah More by Hannah More (1830)
"EVEN REAL CHRISTIANS ARE TOO diffident AND TIMID, AND AFRAID OF ACTING UP TO
THEIR PRINCIPLES. THE ABSURDITY OF THE CHARGE COMMONLY BROUGHT AGAINST ..."
3. Revised Record of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York by New York (State). Constitutional Convention (1916)
"... of the long debate we have had, but this question of charities ought not to
be skipped over quite so rapidly. 1 am a little bit diffident about my own ..."
4. William Winston Seaton of the "National Intelligencer".: A Biographical Sketch by Josephine Seaton (1871)
"diffident of his ability, and singularly modest in self-appreciation, he accepted
with hesitation the post, — a responsible one at this party crisis ..."
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