Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for shrinking violet. Search instead for shrinking+violet.
Synonyms

shrinking violet

American  

noun

  1. a shy, modest, or self-effacing person.

shrinking violet British  

noun

  1. informal a shy person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shrinking violet

First recorded in 1925–30

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.