Tonight it feels diffident and constrained, as though he's nervous of causing offence.
And if the show's take on families — the artist's projections of happiness and fulfillment — feels diffident, even cold, that is because to a certain extent it is.
Elsewhere - well, it's all deeply felt, but so diffident.
Diffident authors may feel uncomfortable with getting so close to their fans.
I watched supporters go from diffident to bold, excited to feel part of something bigger than themselves.
On Summer, the one track he sings himself, the curtains part to reveal the geek in the machine, his diffident drawl indicating an artist who may feel contricted by the EDM sound he was instrumental in creating.
How do you feel about it?" Through all the time I spend with him, here and at Tottenham's brand-new, space-age training ground, with groups of kids and other Spurs staff and one-to-one, he remains the same: shyly diffident, always friendly but occasionally almost solemn, and perpetually keen to play down his own achievements.
He made out for Kentucky, to live with his grandfather, a journey of five hundred miles, which for a "diffident, awkward, backwoods boy" felt "like going out of the world".
Both women were exceptionally – and no doubt accurately – diffident in their roles, and I wondered whether the guys had restrained themselves similarly when they played the female parts, before they felt compelled to bring these shy beards into the show.
Patrick explained why he first fell in love with the film as a 16-year-old: "Titta is a diffident, divorced businessman – but at the time it weirdly felt like he was one of the few people I could really identify with.
His diffident sweetness really speaks to a man locked in metal, always on the brink of rusting when he feels something.
