All 4 Uses

diffident
in
A Gesture Life
(Auto-generated)

At her worst, she would sit diffidently on the hood of the policewoman's cruiser as it sat parked on Church Street, smoking a cigarette as though she were idly passing the time on a bench in the park, her favorite mirrored sunglasses perched on her head.†
p. 85.1

diffidently = with hesitancy and unassertiveness
When I tried to examine the abrasion more closely she shook me off, her hands raised diffidently in that long-familiar gesture of hers, as if my closeness were an unbearable weight.†
p. 91.9 *
and his cheek and before leaving gives him a quick, tiny wave of goodbye with her finger, which he tries to dismiss with a diffident shrug.†
p. 209.1

diffident = hesitant and unassertive
The boy finished sealing a box and, having no others, watched her diffidently.†
p. 221.7

diffidently = with hesitancy and unassertiveness

Definitions:

(1) (diffident)
hesitant and unassertive -- often due to a lack of self-confidence
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)