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diffident (DIF-i-duhnt) - adj., lacking self-confidence, timid, shy; restrained and hesitant in manner, reserved; (arch.) distrustful of others.
The archaic meaning being the original, and somehow distrust of others became distrustful of oneself. The exact antonym is confident, which has the same Latin stem fīdere, to trust, only with con-, here an intensifying prefix, instead of dis-, absence of. Adopted in that first archaic sense in the late 15th century.
---L.
The archaic meaning being the original, and somehow distrust of others became distrustful of oneself. The exact antonym is confident, which has the same Latin stem fīdere, to trust, only with con-, here an intensifying prefix, instead of dis-, absence of. Adopted in that first archaic sense in the late 15th century.
---L.
