29 January 2014

diffident

Diffident

[dif-i-duhnt]

adjective

1. lacking confidence in one’s own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy, e.g. a diffident young man.
2. restrained or reserved in manner, conduct, etc, not diffident about speaking up.
3. Archaic. distrustful.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin diffīdent- (stem of diffīdēns mistrusting, despairing present participle of diffīdere ), equivalent to dif- dif- + fīd- trust + -ent- -ent
Related forms
dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
dif·fi·dent·ness, noun
non·dif·fi·dent, adjective
non·dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
un·dif·fi·dent, adjective
un·dif·fi·dent·ly, adverb
Synonyms
1. self-conscious, self-effacing, abashed, embarrassed, modest, unassuming, unconfident. See shy

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Today’s aphorism

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.

– Nora Roberts

On this day

29 January 1979 – 16 year old, Brenda Spencer shoots two men dead and wounds nine children at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She allegedly claimed that she did it because it was a Monday and she didn’t like Mondays. She was sentenced to 25 years jail. The Boomtown Rats released a song about the incident, entitled ‘I Don’t Like Mondays‘.