All diffident synonyms
dif·fi·dent
D d adj diffident
- sheepish — embarrassed or bashful, as by having done something wrong or foolish.
- demure — If you describe someone, usually a young woman, as demure, you mean they are quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave very correctly.
- meek — humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.
- self-effacing — the act or fact of keeping oneself in the background, as in humility.
- bashful — Someone who is bashful is shy and easily embarrassed.
- unassuming — modest; unpretentious.
- timid — lacking in self-assurance, courage, or bravery; easily alarmed; timorous; shy.
- self-conscious — excessively aware of being observed by others.
- shy — bashful; retiring.
- unsure — not certain or confident: He arrived at the party unsure of his welcome.
- backward — A backward movement or look is in the direction that your back is facing. Some people use backwards for this meaning.
- chary — If you are chary of doing something, you are fairly cautious about doing it.
- coy — evasive, esp in an annoying way
- distrustful — unable or unwilling to trust; doubtful; suspicious: An alert scientist is distrustful of coincidences.
- doubtful — of uncertain outcome or result.
- dubious — doubtful; marked by or occasioning doubt: a dubious reply.
- humble — not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.
- insecure — subject to fears, doubts, etc.; not self-confident or assured: an insecure person.
- modest — having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's merits, importance, etc.; free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.
- mousy — resembling or suggesting a mouse, as in color or odor.
- reluctant — unwilling; disinclined: a reluctant candidate.
- reserved — kept in reserve; forming a reserve: a reserve fund; a reserve supply.
- retiring — that retires.
- shrinking — to draw back, as in retreat or avoidance: to shrink from danger; to shrink from contact.
- suspicious — tending to cause or excite suspicion; questionable: suspicious behavior.
- timorous — full of fear; fearful: The noise made them timorous.
- unobtrusive — not obtrusive; inconspicuous, unassertive, or reticent.
- withdrawn — past participle of withdraw.
- constrained — embarrassed, unnatural, or forced
- rabbity — any of several soft-furred, large-eared, rodentlike burrowing mammals of the family Leporidae, allied with the hares and pikas in the order Lagomorpha, having a divided upper lip and long hind legs, usually smaller than the hares and mainly distinguished from them by bearing blind and furless young in nests rather than fully developed young in the open.
- unassertive — confidently aggressive or self-assured; positive: aggressive; dogmatic: He is too assertive as a salesman.
- unassured — guaranteed; sure; certain; secure: an assured income.
- poised — (of a person) composed, dignified, and self-assured.