(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.
Garrulous
Definition:
(a.) Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious.
(a.) Having a loud, harsh note; noisy; -- said of birds; as, the garrulous roller.
Example Sentences:
(1) Byrne's Nursie had the same indefatigable garrulousness, the same sense that she knew all the worst things about her charge – Miranda Richardson's bibulous Queen Elizabeth – so Gloriana and the rest had to indulge her.
(2) Mohamedou Ould Slahi: “smart, witty, garrulous, and curiously undamaged” Another team inside the plane dragged me and fastened me on a small and straight seat.
(3) More blokey and garrulous, less abrasive and boorish, Farage narrowed the focus to Europe and, by doing so, widened the far right’s appeal.
(4) During the first week or two of his leadership he will be faced with the allegation – promoted by cynical Tory newspapers and garrulous Labour ancients – that he wants to take Labour back to the days of wholesale public ownership and subservience to the trade unions.
(5) If garrulousness was an Olympic sport, he would have a gold medal.
(6) Opposite her sits a garrulous fellow called Barry, who looks like he could be an old mate of Ozzy Osbourne, finds everything funny, keeps mouthing "I love you" at me, and is here in his capacity as her newly appointed manager and agent.
(7) Relaxing in his opulent Thames-side penthouse apartment, the only BBC presenter to be openly critical of the former BBC Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas in the wake of the "Sachsgate" affair is as garrulous as ever.
(8) This is an old-fashioned guesthouse up the hill from the glitzy beach resorts and has a breakfast terrace and big pool with views over Camps Bay and its immense mountain backdrop, a comfy lounge and honesty bar – which is often presided over by the garrulous owner, Bernie.
(9) Scalia was, as usual, the episode's garish, garrulous villain, the kind of lusty misanthrope the word "harrumph" erupts from.
(10) In late June 2013, Christopher Catrambone, a garrulous 31-year-old American entrepreneur who had spent almost a decade travelling the world to build a multimillion-dollar company, decided to take a break.
(11) His position in the American canon is secure, however, and rests on a slender collection of immortal stories and one enduring masterpiece of a novel whose garrulous anguish makes him, in the words of writer Gish Jen "the avatar of American authenticity", a boy for all seasons.
(12) If they are looking to appoint a former manager, Tim Sherwood is garrulous and unemployed, Brendan Rodgers knows all the modern football jargon and David Moyes is back in the UK .
(13) Candidates are fat, skinny, tall, short, introspective, garrulous, southern-fried or blustery Yankee; the contrasts pop off the screen.
(14) If it seems a little incongruous for such a notably garrulous figure to work in such isolation, it's perhaps also worth considering that Lalas is a polarising figure within American soccer – certainly among the fans who attend games live, and who know him not just as the most recognizable face of the USA 1994 home World Cup team but as a three-time general manager (for the Galaxy, Earthquakes and what is now the Red Bulls) turned opinionated pundit.
(15) There were no histrionics or garrulous jokes – just a final sentence which, in a few rather sheepish words, spoke volumes.
(16) But on Saturday the ExCeL arena produced a coming-together of a more parochial nature as British and Irish boxers Luke Campbell of Hull and John Joe Nevin of Mullingar fought for the men's bantam gold before a thrillingly loud and agreeably garrulous UK-Irish crowd.
(17) Mohamedou Ould Slahi: “smart, witty, garrulous, and curiously undamaged” You may ask, Where were the interrogators after installing the detainee in the frozen room?
(18) But if it's history as interpreted by architecture that does this, it's also the garrulous intentionality of the architect.
(19) More recent research has underlined the garrulous nature of violent extremists.
(20) Behind the high steel fences of the Manus Island detention centre, his health is often poor, his moods swing dramatically, from a wild, garrulous mania to black and shiftless depression.