self-distrustful

The self-distrustful Ernest now rested his immediate hopes on the fashionable clothes he intended to wear.

Modeste Mignon 2007

Both these distinguished men said the pleasant thing which goes so far towards keeping the courage of young writers above sinking point, and which, to a self-distrustful nature, may be little less than a life-preserver.

McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 Various

But in addition to this general training, it might be well to give a self-distrustful child easy work to do -- work well within his ability -- then to praise him for performing it; give him something a little harder, but still within his reach, and so on, steadily calling on him for greater and greater effort, but seeing to it that the effort is not too great and that it bears visible fruit.

Study of Child Life Marion Foster Washburne

After two more fruitless quests I grew by turns insanely jealous and wretchedly self-distrustful.

Lippincott's Magazine, December 1878 Various

There was nothing of the stuff that heroines and geniuses are made of in a shy and self-distrustful girl who had no faith in her own capabilities, and, indeed, at that time, the smallest possible amount of interest in the subject.

McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 4, March, 1896 Various

Face and figure were perfect; nor was there in the world any thing more graceful and more lovely than the image there, though the one who looked upon it was far too self-distrustful to entertain any such idea as that.

The American Baron James De Mille

Hence in modern statues the uneasy, self-distrustful appeal to the spectator, in place of the lofty indifference of the antique.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 Various

Brady, when he had been the most backward, self-distrustful, helpless lad in camp.

The Secret Wireless or, The Spy Hunt of the Camp Brady Patrol Lewis E. Theiss

They made him self-conscious and self-distrustful.

The Dark House 1922

Man is a timorous, self-distrustful creature, who would never have discovered his powers if not stimulated by woman's weakness.

The Joys of Being a Woman and Other Papers 1918