shrinking violet
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of shrinking violet
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The consensus was someone who is warm, funny, loud, brash and larger than life, with jokes for the children and adults alike but they cannot be a shrinking violet.
From BBC • Dec. 22, 2025
"This is no shrinking violet, she's ambitious — she's not shy about that, nor should she be," Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, revealed in an interview with NBC News.
From Salon • Jan. 25, 2023
I must say, Gillian is not a shrinking violet; she has a very strong screen presence always.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2022
“Bobby’s not a shrinking violet, and Bobby made it extremely clear who he supported and why he supported him,” said Terry McGuirk, the team’s chairman and a decades-long fixture of sports management in Atlanta.
From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2021
I mean his pa was purt close to Pap’s size and his ma wasn’t no shrinking violet of a woman neither.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
