wary
Americanadjective
-
warier,
comparative
-
wariest
superlative
-
watchful; being on one's guard against danger.
- Synonyms:
- prudent, circumspect, guarded, vigilant, alert
-
arising from or characterized by caution.
to give someone a wary look.
adjective
-
watchful, cautious, or alert
-
characterized by caution or watchfulness
Synonym Usage
See careful.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of wary
Explanation
Describe yourself as wary if you don't quite trust someone or something and want to proceed with caution. Be wary of risky things like wild mushrooms and Internet deals! You can trace wary through Old English back to Old High German giwar "aware, attentive." If you keep a wary eye on something, you are attentive for signs that it is becoming dangerous. Likewise, if you give someone a wary glance, your face conveys the suspicion and caution you feel. When you are wary of driving alone at night or making promises, you fear something bad might happen if you do these things.
Vocabulary lists containing wary
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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:
Picture a developer trying to build a hillside home; a commission that’s wary of such projects could reject it, while another commission that leans more pro-housing could approve it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
But Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification said Pyongyang may choose to "let the incident pass", wary of the reaction from other families whose relatives were deployed to Russia.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
He said he’s also wary of parts of the credit markets, noting that the spread between investment-grade and high-yield bonds is widening — traditionally a forecast of rising economic stress.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
The Dutch economist’s concern is that a narrow focus on Europe’s problems without acknowledging its strengths is making businesses wary and pushing households to build ever larger savings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Reminds me of how Headmaster and Mr. Waters were wary of me.
From "Black Brother, Black Brother" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The strengthening of Ukrainian air defenses with Western weaponry may partly explain the decrease, with shoot-downs seemingly making Russian pilots warier.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
Eric Siegel, a former Columbia University professor and the author of “The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment,” has struck an even warier tone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
While both China and Russia apparently tolerate Pyongyang’s missile tests, they are warier of a new nuclear test.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 21, 2023
John C. Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has said things along those warier lines.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2023
After a few seconds Riddle stopped glaring, though he looked, if anything, warier still.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Germans are among the wariest in Europe of nuclear energy.
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2022
Naturally, given the nature of COVID-19 spread, choral groups are the wariest about returning to concertizing, but this group is still on board for its Oct.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
“The guy was cool as a cucumber in every situation,” said Todd Kurth, a former squad car partner who noted the way Adams’s broad smile and high-wattage friendliness won over even the wariest.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2020
Franklin, who is the wariest of personalities, deflected and delayed, even as some of her closest friends encouraged her to settle the deal and enjoy the inevitable attention that would come with “Amazing Grace.”
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016
At first, Omakayas tried to think she had won, that she had outwitted Old Tallow and made her impatient, as even the wariest animals often failed to do.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
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.
