I felt a certain diffidence about asking, but I really wanted to know what lay behind that quixotic gesture.

Even in this combat I retained a certain diffidence about violence toward a beautiful woman, as perhaps she knew.

He looked at Jean with a certain diffidence.

Intelligent, sensitive and artistic, with a certain diffidence which added to his charm, he was above all a man of absolute integrity.

We centaurs try to maintain a certain diffidence about it, but there is absolutely no doubt of its validity.

His dark eye never wavered from her face, but there was a certain diffidence in his voice.

During the war, he was evacuated to Canada for five years, developing his outsider's eye and a certain diffidence.

Sean asked, with what was for him a certain diffidence.

He speaks sharply, yet there is still a certain diffidence in his manner, as if I am a person of importance.

Once she had shown a certain diffidence, at least around Aes Sedai, but no longer.