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diffident

UK/ˈdɪfɪdənt/US/ˈdɪfɪdənt/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,888 of 15,258neutral

Diffident means shy and lacking confidence in yourself. A diffident manner, diffident about his work, oddly diffident.

It is about self-doubt rather than about liking people, which is what separates it from shy or reserved. The Latin means mistrusting, and defiant is the same word arrived by another road.

Definitions of diffident

  1. 1adjectivediffidentShy and lacking confidence in yourself.C2

    “A diffident student, he rarely spoke in class even when he knew the answer.”

diffident is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin diffidens means mistrustful, from dis- plus fidere, to trust; defiant is a doublet.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *bʰeydʰ-

  2. Latin

    diffīdentem

  3. English, today

    diffident

Built from

  • diffīdere · Latin — to mistrust

From Latin diffīdentem, present participle of diffīdere (“to mistrust”). a doublet of defiant.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

diffident in the wild

  • Nesta has remarried the diffident, baseball-loving millionaire Mr Peter Pett, and Ogden remains spoilt and obnoxious.

    Piccadilly Jim

  • Lima was of a retiring and diffident disposition, which probably accounts for the paucity of his writings.

    Moses ben Isaac Judah Lima

  • Another history refers to him as the "diffident and effective joint secretary" alongside Murray-Anderdon.

    Thomas Spencer (cricketer)

  • A shy, diffident person, not easy to live with but easy to love, and certainly worthy of being remembered and honoured for himself.

    N. P. Williams

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.