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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

diffident

/ˈdɪfɪdənt/

IPA accent not specified by source

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What does diffident mean?

adjective

  1. Lacking self-confidence; timid; modest
More meanings (1)

adjective

  1. (archaic) Lacking confidence in others; distrustful.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈdɪfɪdənt/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Freckles broke into an unrestrained laugh, for the bird-lover was keen about his courting, while evidently his mate was diffident.
Gene Stratton-PorterFrecklesProject Gutenberg ebook #111
Up to this time, I had been a little diffident about the propriety of the advice I had given to her.
Wilkie CollinsThe MoonstoneProject Gutenberg ebook #155
More book examples (3)
After a time he began to sidle near to the youth, and in a diffident way try to make him a friend.
Stephen CraneThe Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil WarProject Gutenberg ebook #73
Being the sons of mothers whose husbands had blundered rather brutally through their feminine sanctities, they were themselves too diffident and shy.
D. H. (David Herbert) LawrenceSons and LoversProject Gutenberg ebook #217
As the experience of Arctic explorers tended to show that sea-water produced a form of dysentery, Wild was rather diffident about using it.
Ernest Henry, Sir ShackletonSouth: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917Project Gutenberg ebook #5199