With great diffidence I venture to point out what I conceive to be reasons for failure, and also to offer some suggestions that, if adopted, will, I believe, greatly minimise, if not remove, certain evils.
Source: tatoeba (11691775)
Diffidence
//ˈdɪfɪdəns//
Synonyms for "diffidence" (80 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (16)
Strong matches (24)
Related words (40)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
3 entriesAntonyms
1 entriesetymologically related_to
1 entriesis a
4 entriesrelated to
5 entriesTranslations
26 translations across 13 languages.
Afrikaans
1 entries- Verleentheid noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Bulgarian
3 entries- нерешителност noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- неувереност noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- стеснителност noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Danish
3 entries- beskedenhed noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- forsagthed noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- tilbageholdenhed noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Dutch
3 entries- bescheidenheid noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- terughoudendheid noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- verlegenheid noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Esperanto
1 entries- timideco noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
French
1 entries- timidité noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
German
3 entries- Schüchternheit noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- Verlegenheit noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- Zurückhaltung noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Greek
1 entries- αιδημοσύνη noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Irish
1 entries- cotadh noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Māori
1 entries- ahaahatanga noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Norwegian Bokmål
3 entries- beskjedenhet noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- forlegenhet noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- tilbakeholdenhet noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Russian
3 entries- застенчивость noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- неуве́ренность noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- ро́бость noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Tagalog
2 entries- himan noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
- kahimanan noun (The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement)
Sample sentences
8 total sentences available.
Without scruple—without apology—without much apparent diffidence, Mr. Elton, the lover of Harriet, was professing himself her lover.
Source: wiktionary
I have the same diffidence in my feelings that most public speakers have, and am apt to think that others can speak better and more edifying than I can.
Source: wiktionary
"I was passing by," he began to stammer, trembling with his diffidence, "I—happened to be passing along this way, and so—er—as I was passing this way, I says to myself, says I, 'I'll just stop into the shop a minute.'
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 8 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.