wary
Americanadjective
-
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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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
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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:
After immigration agents began arresting people in courthouses, many immigrants grew wary of showing up for court proceedings, which has aided the increase in removal orders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Extra precautions around testing are important, he continued, because inconsistencies risk "making the consumer really wary that we don't have anybody to trust".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Volatility traders are wary of what August could bring.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
A wary Tinseltown reluctantly lined up behind Netflix as the lesser of two evils, only to watch Paramount keep raising its bid until the streamer walked away in February.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Then, keeping its distance, the lion circled the wary unicorn, its golden eyes at all times fixed upon the sharp horn that was always turned toward it.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
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
Li's call came as the European bloc grows warier of the risks of engaging China, defined as its partner, competitor and "systemic rival" since 2019.
From Reuters ● Sep. 10, 2023
Rising interest rates have also made lenders warier of plowing more money into distressed companies like Bed Bath & Beyond.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 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
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
Another is that even the wariest trout seem to throw caution to the wind when these insects appear, gorging indiscriminately.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2013
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.
