timid

timid (ˈtɪmɪd)

—*adj*
1.	easily frightened or upset, esp by human contact; shy
2.	indicating shyness or fear

[C16: from Latin timidus, from timēre to fear]

ti'midity

—n

'timidness

—n

'timidly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

timid

1549, from M.Fr. timide "easily frightened, shy," from L. timidus "fearful," from timere "to fear."

Example sentences

Even remedies of a right tendency have become discredited because of the

failure of a timid and vacillating application of them.

But its goals are so modest, so tiny, so timid that fulfillment is exactly what

it does not provide.

Meanwhile, the more timid among us can sit back and watch.

Not timid in attempts to run the ball through the pile.

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Matching Quote

"[The] elderly and timid single gentleman in Paris ... never drove down the Champs Elysees without expecting an accident, and commonly witnessing one; or found himself in the neighborhood of an official without calculating the chances of a bomb. So long as the rates of progress held good, these bombs would double in force and number every ten years."

-Henry Brooks Adams