From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdiffidentdif‧fi‧dent /ˈdɪfɪdənt/ adjective SHYshy and not wanting to make people notice you or talk about youdiffident manner/smile/voice etcdiffident about He was diffident about his own success. —diffidently adverb —diffidence noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
diffident• The voice at the other end was light, gentle, diffident.• Joe was humble and diffident about his own success.• He seemed diffident, even shy.• Her former classmates say she was shy and diffident in school.• The Neanderthals seemed unexpectedly gentle and diffident people.• From being a painfully shy, diffident recluse, he suddenly metamorphosed into a garrulous and sometimes painfully overbearing extrovert.• Shaun became noticeably diffident when the conversation turned to the subject of his promotion.diffident manner/smile/voice etc• Despite a shy and diffident manner, Davison was a hard-working and gifted teacher of endless patience.Origin diffident (1400-1500) Latin present participle of diffidere “to distrust”, from fidere “to trust” 