as in timidity
the quality or state of lacking confidence or assertiveness
He met the girl's gaze with awkward diffidence.
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Recent Examples of diffidence
But Cropper’s diffidence about his abilities was the perfect mindset for a rhythm guitarist, whose job is to serve the song and the band rather than himself.
—
David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2025
Scott was completing a yearlong master’s program in mathematics, and Noone, a doctoral candidate five years his senior, was charmed by the contrast between his good looks and his diffidence.
—Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
And has done so with the kind of diffidence that can only come from a lifetime in the sports backwaters.
—Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 26 Aug. 2025
The concern now is not diffidence in New Delhi, but diffidence in Washington.
—Nirupama Rao, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for diffidence
David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2025
Scott was completing a yearlong master’s program in mathematics, and Noone, a doctoral candidate five years his senior, was charmed by the contrast between his good looks and his diffidence.
—Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
And has done so with the kind of diffidence that can only come from a lifetime in the sports backwaters.
—Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 26 Aug. 2025
The concern now is not diffidence in New Delhi, but diffidence in Washington.
—Nirupama Rao, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for diffidence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for diffidence
Noun
-
This idea of reasonableness is easily caricatured as moral timidity or a bloodless neutrality that drains politics of passion.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
-
But our delay and our timidity continue to cause unimaginable human suffering.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There’s a lot of quiet in the country, and there’s a lot of quietness in my children.—
Andrea Wurzburger,
PEOPLE,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The work ethic is there, but so are the routines, the quirks, the quietness, the edge.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
But for Coles, his indoctrination to law enforcement has been a different level of submissiveness.—
Dan Pompei,
New York Times,
2 Dec. 2025
-
In Killers of the Flower Moon, his Ernest Burkhart starts off as a mopey, weak-minded World War One veteran, eager to do anything for his godfather uncle (Robert De Niro), but there’s still a certain likability to his dim-bulb submissiveness.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Elsewhere off the bench, the Magic received major contributions from reserves Tristan da Silva, Goga Bitadze and Anthony Black.—
Jason Beede,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 May 2026
-
Nearly all those funds have been used to shrink pension debt or build reserves.—
Keith M. Phaneuf,
Hartford Courant,
1 May 2026
Noun
-
Her skin—something known as Frubber, a porous patented blend of fleshlike elastic polymers—stretched over a structure of plastic and titanium, and there was no flicker of bashfulness.—
Dan Turello,
New Yorker,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Tradwives have resurrected the female submission part of the blueprint, but not the male self-sacrifice part.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 May 2026
-
Both parties seemed ready for court proceedings to finally kick off, with court submissions being filed as recently as last Friday.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
That got everybody over their shyness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
-
In Atlanta, some people living with SAD, as well as social phobia or even simple shyness, are facing their fears in a novel way.—
Hunter Boyce,
AJC.com,
24 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Diffidence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diffidence. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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