Sentence examples for diffidence in from inspiring English sources

And there was now a sudden weak diffidence in his smile as he looked up and said, "It's my mum".

Diffidence in complaining is closely associated with class which is perhaps why, as Pascual observed, it's a problem that especially afflicts the English.

Spacey dug around in Dexter, unveiling the wistful, Gatsbyish diffidence in the playboy; with Luthor, however, there is nothing to reveal.

RICHARD BRODY: The best thing about 50/50 was Anna Kendrick's performance; she was like herself but more so; the hesitation and diffidence in her line readings, the pausing and searching in her gaze, was the movie's one true thing.

In her prime she would have been more attractive than her daughter was now, but perhaps it was the diffidence in her face that had softened some of the features that in her daughter's case were accentuated by rage.

Anonymity and pseudonymity might be invoked out of fear or diffidence: in 1555, one punishment for treasonous writings was the loss of the right hand; "modest" women authors were long identified simply as "A Lady".

The World Series success of the Yankees did not inspire such Bloombergian diffidence, even in the minds of uncommitteds — but there were those who found themselves comparing one orderly, overdog success with the other, and noting the almost indecent superfluousness of attacks made on their opponents (the Post on "the Frillies"; Bloomberg on Bill Thompson).

There was always something surreal about encounters with genuine writers inside the Soviet bloc in those days, and maybe Kapuscinski's diffidence was caused in part by that surrealism.

Also, in female speakers, a large variety of paralinguistic information were found, while in male speakers, the breathy utterances were mostly frequent in laugh (about 53%), and in diffidence (about 16%).

That fits with the songwriting, which rejects the Jesus and Mary Chain's diffidence and disaffection in favour of something more impassioned, sung in a Glaswegian brogue so thick it represents a new frontier for regional accents in rock: by contrast, the Proclaimers sound like Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

"I come knowing nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and in weakness and fear and much trembling," the archbishop replied, expressing in words he wrote himself the anxiety and diffidence he has voiced in interviews in recent weeks about the daunting challenges facing him as the 105th occupant of the Canterbury see.