diffident

Questions about diffident

What does diffident mean?

diffident means "showing modest reserve". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in diffident?

diffident has 3 syllables: dif-fi-dent. The stress falls on "dif".

What is another word for diffident?

Close synonyms include shy, timid, unsure. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of diffident?

The recorded antonyms are confident.

Is diffident a common word?

diffident is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.