Welcome to another exciting installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! This week we'll be looking at another pair of words which are sometimes confused due to the fact that they appear similar, but have different meanings. And the Words of the Week are:
Diffident: (adjective)
1. hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence
2. (archaic) distrustful
3. reserved, unassertive
-- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diffident , 11/6/2010.
and then there's...
Dissident: (noun) disagreeing especially with an established religious or political system, organization or belief
-- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissident , 11/6/2010.
Example: David's diffident manner was at odds with the fact that at heart he was a raging dissident.
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