(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.
Reticence
Definition:
(n.) The quality or state of being reticent, or keeping silence; the state of holding one's tonque; refraining to speak of that which is suggested; uncommunicativeness.
(n.) A figure by which a person really speaks of a thing while he makes a show as if he would say nothingon the subject.
Example Sentences:
(1) The simple answer: absolutely no.” The reticence of others to publicly support her had been disheartening at times.
(2) And as for his much-feted reticence and unwillingness to be made into a 'personality' himself well, you'd have to say that was the icing on the cake.
(3) San Dhillon, the executive director at Exane BNP Paribas, saidBT has been “reticent and hesitant” to offer remedies that would truly make Openreach independent.
(4) He developed a parallel career as a rock video director after mentioning in a meeting with record label and film company Warp that he loved the Arctic Monkeys, and ended up directing a string of videos for them (given the band's legendary reticence, the mind boggles at what the initial meeting was like) as well as Vampire Weekend , Kasabian and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs .
(5) I want this to happen in a consensual, sensible, non-inflammatory way and that's why I've been so reticent about it."
(6) The famously reticent Tartt has not given an interview about herself or her writing for a decade.
(7) Ophthalmologists have shown some reticence to having the entire bony support of the medial wall of the orbit and half the floor removed.
(8) I’m not talking about a reticence that would be linked to a physical problem, I’m talking about the heart that’s not quite in it anymore.
(9) I’m still not sure we were right to take it off.” The British have always been less comfortable accepting labels than the Americans but there’s much more to Benner’s reticence and Thompson’s unease around the term than that.
(10) Le Pen’s campaign, which begins in earnest in February, will depend heavily on Philippot’s claim that he can neutralise hostility and win over reticent parts of the electorate.
(11) My colleague is still very reticent at attending the very international conferences she should be going to in order to become a successful academic.
(12) There is unlikely to be such reticence from the Football Association towards the Goodison club after numerous objects were thrown at Suárez in the closing minutes.
(13) Shelvey’s only previous cap came in October 2012 against San Marino, as a 66th-minute substitute, and he has spent long periods out of contention, not helped by his apparent attitude when he was playing for England’s Under-21s and, according to Hodgson, the midfielder was reticent to be involved with Gareth Southgate’s team.
(14) Owing to the breakdown of the Libyan state and reticence from the Tunisian government they sometimes go undocumented.
(15) The Retics, NRBC and other red blood cell indices do not differ from those of neonates reported from other parts of the world.
(16) The evidence suggests that more timely, targeted training around the culture of knowledge brokering in the formative years could help to overcome this reticence.
(17) People who have invested more in Hillary’s campaign are understandably reluctant to defect, if you will, before there’s something to defect to.” He added: “I would say there is a big shift.” The reticence of such donors to speak publicly, let alone switch their money yet, speaks to the nervousness of these next few days for the Draft Biden movement, particularly as Tuesday’s first Democratic debate is likely to come and go without their candidate on the stage.
(18) If she’d turned over the records it would have put an end to it pretty early.” Clinton’s hankering for privacy should not be confused with reticence.
(19) These results suggest that the problems of faulty memory and conceptual confusion about serious events can be overcome with careful question wording and administration procedures, but that the problem of respondent reticence about reporting sensitive events remains unresolved.
(20) Unless a concrete reason was present, Danish medical students were very reticent concerning discussion of the injurious effects of smoking with patients.