This year we particularly want to encourage entries from for-profit service providers, who have seemed diffident about putting themselves forward.    From LearnThat.org.  [www.yourdictionary.com]

She was diffident when offering a comment on the professor's lecture.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

Stood in the doorway diffident and abashed.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

The word diffident has appeared in 72 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Sept. 2 in How to Choose and.    From Wordnik.com.  [NYT > Home Page] Reference

But this was before I had reached what I will call the diffident period in the life of a writer.    From Wordnik.com.  [Aylwin] Reference

We are told, and can well believe it, that he was "diffident" of Sir Walter's designs.    From Wordnik.com.  [Some Diversions of a Man of Letters] Reference

Christopher's halting, diffident personal style didn't help.    From Wordnik.com.  [Chinese 'Face' Time] Reference

He was even diffident about accepting a suggestion for a joke.    From Wordnik.com.  [The History of "Punch"] Reference

The greatest sufferers were often too diffident to ask for help.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Woman's Life-Work — Labors and Experiences] Reference

Lord George Murray, he seemed very diffident of everybody except the.    From Wordnik.com.  [Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume III.] Reference

Everyone's diffident on their prospects in a slower economic setting.    From Wordnik.com.  [Bernanke's Fed Full Of Blind Mice] Reference

Seattle's prevailing style is reticent and diffident, rather than glib.    From Wordnik.com.  [Seattle Reigns] Reference

"He's so amazingly diffident, and yet so utterly in love, he's relieved.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Antony Gray,—Gardener] Reference

But there is another division of that august body by no means quite so diffident.    From Wordnik.com.  [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847] Reference

"Ah, doctor, how do you do?" he greeted his colleague in a slightly diffident tone.    From Wordnik.com.  [Juggernaut] Reference

And there was another thing that made Ruth feel diffident about approaching the boy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret] Reference

As has become her diffident wont, the First Lady predicted she'd keep on keeping on.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Role Of A Lifetime] Reference

The court's curious, diffident decision in the Adarand case confused almost everyone.    From Wordnik.com.  [Affirmative Inaction?] Reference

The Second Hand, therefore, should be somewhat diffident about bidding two in a suit.    From Wordnik.com.  [Auction of To-day] Reference

He was diffident and charming but failed to disguise a profound suspicion of anyone in the media.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Private Prince] Reference

The pretty girl at Peet's Coffee saw me drive up, and for the first time she was, like, diffident.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hard-Times Hollywood] Reference

A diffident woman of a certain age, holding binoculars, offers the standard bird-watcher greeting.    From Wordnik.com.  [Birding In Central Park] Reference

Charmingly diffident, the McLoughlins wanted to make sure we understood they were not seeking glory.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Editor's Desk] Reference

When he springs into action, this diffident hero discovers within himself his true, chivalric nature.    From Wordnik.com.  [Very Dangerous Liaisons] Reference

It's an astonishing performance that captures both the fussiness and the diffident courage of the man.    From Wordnik.com.  [Love, Bloomsbury Style] Reference

Indeed, he virtually duplicates Reeve in the way he plays Kent as a diffident, awkward Midwestern colt.    From Wordnik.com.  [Movies: The Big Guy's Back. We Missed Him.] Reference

My diffident reference to economic cycles brought the assurance that monetary policy would mitigate their effects.    From Wordnik.com.  [Notable] Reference

Taciturn and diffident, he has "never been the kind of politician to be a backslapper," his daughter Liz told NEWSWEEK.    From Wordnik.com.  [CHENEY FAMILY VALUES] Reference

A wise hostess will personally see that the women are provided with partners, and that diffident young men are introduced.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Book of Good Manners; a Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions] Reference

The regulars and her friends surround her, a little diffident at first because of Elena, but eager to acclaim her success.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tango] Reference

Unique: the word rings in her head, later, though the echo of his diffident touch on her hand is not what sets her chiming.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hotel Chelsea - Nanette 4] Reference

The parallels are comically human: the small but pugilistic cactus, the cheerfully plump one, the tall but diffident wraith.    From Wordnik.com.  [Martin Creed: Down Over Up; Richard Wright: The Stairwell Project; Joan Mitchell] Reference

But he has been a different man from the morose and diffident figure who finished second from last at Firestone last weekend.    From Wordnik.com.  [Nick Watney leads charge of young generation in US PGA] Reference

The diffident charm that was so effective in "The Crying Game" still works, but his self-effacement is approaching self-parody.    From Wordnik.com.  [Meryl (Yes, Meryl) Goes Macho] Reference

This is a reined-in, lawyerly guy, too diffident to advertise his courage, and Hanks moves us deeply by never begging for sympathy.    From Wordnik.com.  ['Tis Not A Jolly Season] Reference