timid

The long story short is that we haven’t traveled very far thematically since Thomas Jefferson said that timid men prefer despotism — although that was around 250 years ago.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

His captaincy towards the end of his previous tenure was marked by criticisms of a timid approach that failed to bring the best from England's batting talents.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

But de Brouwer said the EU was "timid" about enforcing the law.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

Lalas, never timid about a brash, attention-seeking rant, riles up TV audiences in a way that makes Stephen A. Smith resemble Mr. Rogers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

He was slight, smooth-skinned, shy-mannered, and wore the gold chain of a Foreteller, one of the Celibates, “I’m a friend of one who befriended you,” he said, with the brusqueness of the timid.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Clark!" said Potts, "you're getting timider and timider.

From Cord and Creese by James De Mille

But anon, imbued With a sudden, bounding access Of passion, it relaxes All timider persuasion.

From Dreams and Days: Poems by George Parsons Lathrop

The proximity of the farm had had the effect of scaring antelopes and gazelles and the timider animals away from the neighbourhood.

From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang

Often the little timider ones were called on to repeat the rhyme alone, without singing it, and then to sing it alone with the teacher.

From Education in The Home, The Kindergarten, and The Primary School by Elizabeth P. (Palmer) Peabody

The tenderer and the timider of creatures Often desert the brood that has been handled, Or turned about, or indiscreetly looked at.

From The Young Lady's Mentor A Guide to the Formation of Character. In a Series of Letters to Her Unknown Friends by An English Lady

They made Cornelia feel as much at home with them on the summit they had reached, as she felt with the timidest beginners in the Preparatory.

From The Coast of Bohemia by William Dean Howells

Their timidest member’s announcement stunned them all to silence––left them hushed and speechless––not for an hour or two, but for the days that followed as well.

From Once to Every Man by Anton Otto Fischer

Even the timidest soul dare not "stand pat."

From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann

I like to know what two observing eyes saw and the feelings that sometimes made the timidest heroes—sometimes cravens.

From The Iron Game A Tale of the War by Henry F. (Henry Francis) Keenan

But there is an Aunt Milly that Anne didn't seem to know about and, Claire, she is human—the dearest, sweetest, prettiest, timidest little thing.

From Happy House by Jane D. Abbott