diffident

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In “One of Us,” Elizabeth Day’s shrewd novel of political ambition and personal retribution, the unlikely avenger is a diffident British art historian.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

But the overarching tone, across the board, is oddly diffident.

From Slate • Apr. 25, 2025

But, he was naturally diffident - which worked in his favour when he auditioned to play Dr James Kildare, a medical intern struggling to learn his profession, in NBC's new primetime medical drama.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2025

Not unlike Oldroyd’s sharp debut feature, “Lady Macbeth,” “Eileen” casts a seemingly diffident young woman as the antihero of an unusually cruel liberation story.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2023

His eyes were soft and irisless and brown, and suddenly I saw Roskus watching me from behind all his whitefolks’ claptrap of uniforms and politics and Harvard manner, diffident, secret, inarticulate and sad.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner