Synonyms of diffidence

diffidence

noun

as in timidity

the quality or state of lacking confidence or assertiveness

He met the girl's gaze with awkward diffidence.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• timidity
• fearfulness
• quietness
• submissiveness
• timidness
• reserve
• bashfulness
• submission
• shyness
• sheepishness
• reservedness
• deference
• carefulness
• wariness
• compliance
• acquiescence
• cautiousness
• softness
• timorousness
• passivity
• faintheartedness
• weakness
• feebleness
• mousiness
• resignedness
• pusillanimity
• retiringness
• meekness
• humility
• cowardliness
• humbleness
• gutlessness
• cravenness
• modesty
• dastardliness
• demureness
• lowliness
• spinelessness
• poltroonery
• down-to-earthness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• attitude
• boldness
• assertiveness
• aggressiveness
• overconfidence
• forwardness
• brashness
• swagger
• cockiness
• impudence
• cocksureness
• audaciousness
• temerity
• cheekiness
• insolence
• impertinence
• cheek
• nerve
• brassiness
• disdain
• sauciness
• boastfulness
• vanity
• self-complacency
• self-satisfaction
• swash
• self-conceit
• condescension
• scorn
• self-importance
• self-opinion
• arrogance
• self-centeredness
• self-glorification
• ostentation
• vaingloriousness
• chest-thumping
• flamboyance
• haughtiness
• imperiousness
• pretence
• superciliousness
• assumption
• pride
• hauteur
• egotism
• egoism
• superiority
• self-applause
• conceit
• pomposity
• presumptuousness
• ostentatiousness
• showiness
• loftiness
• pretension
• pretentiousness
• pretense
• peremptoriness
• pompousness
• pridefulness
• self-assumption
• huffiness
• bumptiousness
• lordliness
• self-partiality
• toploftiness

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of diffidence

The people who’ve worked with her, however, describe an impressive resolve beneath the diffidence. —Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2024

Most foreigners are perplexed by the flagrant air of diffidence and dilettantism with which former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other contemporary Brexiteers have ruled the United Kingdom. —Simon Kuper, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2022

The simultaneous inward intensity of feeling and outward diffidence, the emotional and moral dangers of simulation, the hot alien beauty of the city ... —Boris Kachka, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2023

Despite her diffidence about feminist smugness, there’s no shortage of reflexive feminist mockery of men, though also a wonderful passage about the special female thrill in locating the tender heart of the brute. —Laura Kipnis, The New Republic, 5 May 2023