Diffidence

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]
        [1913 Webster]
  


              That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me
              down even to a diffidence of God's mercy. --Donne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Distrust of one's self or one's own powers; lack of
        self-reliance; modesty; modest reserve; bashfulness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is good to speak on such questions with
              diffidence.                           --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  71 Moby Thesaurus words for "diffidence":
     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