1
He had seen heavy action in Indochina, which left him painfully diffident.
2
His voice was weak, he stammered in his speech, and was painfully diffident.
3
He was often, on the contrary, quite painfully diffident.
4
They are so annoyingly abject; so painfully diffident.
5
She again, may become painfully diffident, and a recluse in her bearing, if not subjected to the society of the more confident sex.