Word.ws English Dictionary

diffidency

diffidency is the obsolete form of diffidence.

Meaning of diffidence

Noun

diffidence (countable and uncountable, plural diffidences)

  1. The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement.
    • Without scruple—without apology—without much apparent diffidence, Mr. Elton, the lover of Harriet, was professing himself her lover.1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 15, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC
  2. (obsolete) Mistrust, distrust, lack of confidence in someone or something.
    • [Charles, King of France]: We have been guided by thee hitherto,
      And of thy cunning had no diffidence:
      One sudden foil shall never breed distrust.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Forms of diffidency

pluraldiffidencies

Questions about diffidency

What is diffidency the obsolete form of?
Diffidency is the obsolete form of diffidence.

Words near diffidency in the dictionary

  1. difficulty levels
  2. diffide
  3. diffidence
  4. diffidences
  5. diffidencies
  6. diffidency
  7. diffident
  8. diffidently
  9. diffidentness
  10. Diffie-Hellman
  11. diffine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: diffidency (page history and authors); diffidence (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “diffidency.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diffidency. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.