What's the difference between confide and diffident?

Confide


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To put faith (in); to repose confidence; to trust; -- usually followed by in; as, the prince confides in his ministers.
  • (v. t.) To intrust; to give in charge; to commit to one's keeping; -- followed by to.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When pooled data were analysed, this difference was highly significant (p = 0.0001) with a relative risk of schizophrenia in homozygotes of 2.61 (95% confidence intervals 1.60-4.26).
  • (2) Confidence is the major prerequisite for a doctor to be able to help his seriously ill patient.
  • (3) Men who ever farmed were at slightly elevated risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (odds ratio = 1.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.0-1.5) that was not linked to specific crops or particular animals.
  • (4) Although, it did give me the confidence to believe that my voice was valid and important.
  • (5) But Howard added that it may take a while and he is not confident the political reality will change.
  • (6) Jaczko's appearance was the second show of confidence in the nuclear industry since Sunday.
  • (7) Subjects in the highest quartile of the insulin distribution had 6.6 times the risk of developing type II diabetes as subjects in the remaining three quartiles combined (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.14-13.7).
  • (8) However, self-efficacy (defined as confidence in being able to resist the urge to drink heavily) assessed at intake of treatment, was strongly associated with the level of consumption on drinking occasions at follow-up.
  • (9) As Heseltine himself argued, after the success of last summer's Olympics, "our aim must be to become a nation of cities possessed of London's confidence and elan" .
  • (10) The adjusted odds ratio of having one or more hospitalization for current drinkers relative to life-long abstainers in females was 0.67 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.57-0.79) and in males was 0.74 (0.57-0.96).
  • (11) "There is sufficient evidence... of past surface temperatures to say with a high level of confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years.
  • (12) She has imbued me with the confidence of encouraging other girls to dream alternative futures that do not rely on FGM as a prerequisite.
  • (13) The changes are necessary to produce confident, supportive community oriented nurses.
  • (14) The relationship between certain prenatal and background variables and maternal confidence also was assessed.
  • (15) Central assessment of the angiograms revealed a patent infarct-related artery in 78 patients (patency rate 66%, 95% confidence limits 57 to 74%).
  • (16) We need to be confident that the criminal justice system takes child abuse seriously.
  • (17) Twellman has steadily grown in confidence as he settles into his role, though whether as a player or as an advocate he was never shy about voicing his opinions.
  • (18) We are confident that the European commission’s state aid decision on Hinkley Point C is legally robust,” a spokeswoman for Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change said last week.
  • (19) By 1988, nearly one-half of the public expressed confidence in the future of the Social Security program.
  • (20) In confidence rape, the assailant is known to some degree, however slight, and gains control over his victim by winning her trust.

Diffident


Definition:

  • (a.) Wanting confidence in others; distrustful.
  • (a.) Wanting confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The Observer of the mid-1950s resembled nothing so much as a giant seminar conducted by the soft-spoken and diffident, yet steely, figure of David Astor.
  • (2) The main factor, however, is presumably not primness or diffidence but the chart's timeframe.
  • (3) Physically, he has a sort of wiry poise, often standing on the balls of his feet, but there is also something diffident, almost shyly polite, about him.
  • (4) In conversation, he is a curious mix of openness and a sweet, faintly diffident shyness.
  • (5) Diffident technically, she none the less doggedly pursued the detail of the execution of her scenery and costumes: she got what she needed.
  • (6) Wouldn't we rather our film writers be morally engaged viewers rather than diffident aesthetes?
  • (7) She too is a sceptic, but has been drawn to watch diffident Corbyn – potentially her future leader.
  • (8) His maiden speech came on his second day as an MP, in the debate on the address – intervening, he suggested improbably, with feelings of diffidence: "I am convinced that the key to all our hopes and aspirations in the field of economic activity lies in the maintenance and improvement of industrial relationships," he said.
  • (9) They were difficult because of the language barrier, which required exclusive use of interpreters, and because of the diffidence of the women themselves, especially in discussing matters of sex and childbearing.
  • (10) He is an odd, diffident sort of ambassador, spreading the message about "the Finnish miracle" but not really believing in the data that supposedly proves that it works.
  • (11) It stars Tom Hollander as a diffident, gaffe-prone British minister who is packed off to Washington DC, where he becomes a pawn in the political opposition to the war.
  • (12) And soon he was among them, grinning his diffident chipmunk smile, with his wife, a striking vision in white and red, beside him.
  • (13) A magnet for media coverage around the world thanks to his entrepreneurial success and love of a photo opportunity, Branson can be surprisingly diffident in person.
  • (14) He was too nervous – petrified before a big case, and diffident about his own abilities.
  • (15) At 43, he still looked boyish, with his questioning eyes, a thatch of hair and diffident mumbles.
  • (16) The media glamourised professional women who decided to have children while pursuing demanding careers, and warned women who put off having children that they would regret their diffidence later.
  • (17) Like Henry, whom Wenger signed as a diffident winger from Juventus in his early twenties in 1999, Welbeck has arrived at Arsenal after doing more running than scoring at Manchester United with the invitation to develop in a more favoured central attacking role.
  • (18) That diffidence is evident on screen, in Mia's core of vulnerability, the lonely anguish she camouflages with violence and filthy language.
  • (19) The man whose motto is a diffident "just messin' about" talks with unguarded passion about the process of music-making.
  • (20) In 1991, Gavin Millar filmed Call For The Dead's successor A Murder Of Quality, with Denholm Elliott as Smiley, his nervous diffidence dovetailing perfectly with the character.