leery
1 Americanadjective
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wary; suspicious (usually followed byof ).
I'm leery of his financial advice.
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Archaic. knowing; alert.
adjective
adjective
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dialect knowing or sly
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slang (foll by of) suspicious or wary
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slang rowdy or boisterous
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of leery1
First recorded in 1790–1800; leer 1 + -y 1
Origin of leery2
Explanation
You can use the adjective leery to describe someone who's suspicious of a person or situation. After his brother came out with bald spots and uneven patches of buzz-cut hair, he was leery of having the same barber get near his own head. Being leery is being distrustful. If you're leery, it will probably show on your face and in your posture. You may squint and wrinkle your brows or take a few steps back. If you're leery that someone won't keep a secret, you won't confide in them, and if you're leery about whether they'll keep a promise to you, you won't count on them. Sometimes people are leery because of some proof, but often, just having a bad feeling or instinct is enough to make a person leery.
Vocabulary lists containing leery
The Outsiders
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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This Week in Words: February 12 - 16, 2018
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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.
See Examples For:
Parks, who later served on the City Council, said he was leery of any arrangements that left the department indebted — even if only in appearance — to rich donors.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Minutes from the central bank’s December deliberations indicated officials were leery of data signaling an improvement in economic activity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
Yet with the rate of inflation still stuck close to 3%, top Fed officials are leery of cutting rates any more for now.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 22, 2026
BYD’s lineup added smaller cars, which Europeans typically buy, as well as plug-in hybrids for consumers leery of going fully electric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
Hold-Your-Nose Billy clapped a leery eye on the rat-catcher's son.
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
Indeed, a raft of recent surveys, such as this one from UBS UBS AG, show the Great Recession scared generation born after 1980 is actually more risk averse and leerier of stocks than their elders.
From Forbes ● Dec. 19, 2014
Americans have grown leerier of foreign entanglements and more self-interested on economic matters.
From Economist ● Oct. 10, 2013
Physicians are leerier about another of Kessler's campaigns: restricting the promotion of drugs for purposes other than those explicitly approved by the FDA.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
