Adjacent Words

Diffidence definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DIFFIDENCE, n. [L., to trust. See Faith.]
1. Distrust; want of confidence; any doubt of the power, ability or disposition of others. It is said there was a general diffidence of the strength and resources of the nation, and of the sincerity of the king.
2. More generally, distrust of ones self; want of confidence in our own power, competency, correctness or wisdom; a doubt respecting some personal qualification. We speak or write with diffidence, when we doubt our ability to speak or write correctly or to the satisfaction of others. The effect of diffidence is some degree of reserve, modesty, timidity or bashfulness. Hence,
3. Modest reserve; a moderate degree of timidity or bashfulness; as, he addressed the audience or the prince with diffidence.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: lack of self-confidence [syn: diffidence, self-doubt, self-distrust] [ant: confidence]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century the quality or state of being diffident

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Diffidence Dif"fi*dence, n. [L. diffidentia.] 1. The state of being diffident; distrust; want of confidence; doubt of the power, ability, or disposition of others. [Archaic] That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence of God's mercy. --Donne. 2. Distrust of one's self or one's own powers; lack of self-reliance; modesty; modest reserve; bashfulness. It is good to speak on such questions with diffidence. --Macaulay. An Englishman's habitual diffidence and awkwardness of address. --W. Irving. Syn: Humility; bashfulness; distrust; suspicion; doubt; fear; timidity; apprehension; hesitation. See Humility, and Bashfulness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see diffident

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Distrust, doubt, hesitation, hesitancy, reliance. 2. Bashfulness, timidity, sheepishness, shyness, extreme modesty, distrust of one's self, lack or want of self-reliance.

Moby Thesaurus

Pyrrhonism, afraidness, apprehension, bashfulness, boggle, boggling, caution, cautiousness, compunction, demur, demurral, distrust, distrustfulness, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, falter, faltering, fearfulness, half-belief, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitating, hesitation, jumpiness, lack of self-confidence, lack of self-reliance, leeriness, misdoubt, misgiving, mistrust, mistrustfulness, modesty, objection, pause, protest, qualm, qualm of conscience, qualmishness, question, recoil, scruple, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, self-depreciation, self-detraction, self-distrust, self-doubt, self-effacement, shadow of doubt, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, shrinking, shrinkingness, shyness, skepticalness, skepticism, skittishness, stage fright, startlishness, stickling, suspicion, suspiciousness, tentativeness, timidity, timorousness, total skepticism, uncertainty, wariness, weak ego