wiry

American  

[wahyuhr-ee] / ˈwaɪər i /

adjective

wirier, comparative wiriest superlative

1. made of wire.

2. in the form of wire.

3. resembling wire, as in form, stiffness, etc..

   wiry grass.

4. lean and sinew.

   a wiry little person.

5. produced by or resembling the sound of a vibrating wire.

   wiry tones.

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wiry British  

/ ˈwaɪərɪ /

adjective

1. (of people or animals) slender but strong in constitution

2. made of or resembling wire, esp in stiffness

   wiry hair

3. (of a sound) produced by or as if by a vibrating wire

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wiriness
  noun
• wirily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• wirier
  comparative
• wiriest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of wiry

First recorded in 1580–90; wire + -y ¹

Explanation

You can describe someone who's fairly thin and athletic as wiry. While a linebacker on a football team is typically big and broad, a marathon runner is more likely to be wiry. The adjective wiry can be used in two different ways: first, to mean "lean and strong," like a wiry seven year-old gymnast. The second meaning is "resembling wire." You could describe your thick, impossibly curly hair as wiry, or the crazy coat of your terrier as wiry. In the late 1500s the word wiry meant "made of wire."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wiry wirier wiriest

Would they get the shadows of his wiry grin just right?

From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026

On Fox News, Essayli, sporting a blue FBI windbreaker, hyped the arrest of Orellana, a quiet, wiry man with a long mane of coal-black hair.

From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2026

In these paintings, figures are defined by wiry contours and modeled with lean pigments in saturated hues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025

A small, wiry, pockmarked young man with curly hair and a hard-to-place accent, he loitered in the area for hours, asking kitchen workers if his target would be coming that way.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025

At first, Elinor couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Basta’s wiry figure pressed up against the iron bars.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

My arms and legs had grown skinnier, wirier than ever before, but my stomach was rounding out and bloating, like Baby Joe’s and some of the other boys’.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

Philip was taller, wirier, and quicker on his feet.

From Claire The Blind Love of a Blind Hero, By a Blind Author by Blades, Leslie Burton

I couldn’t help thinking that I never saw brawnier, wirier men than those young farmers who met Earl P— at his political meeting.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon

He was a man of about my own age and height, but slimmer and wirier.

From The Yeoman Adventurer by Gough, George W.

Tom was of slighter build, and wirier, his skin much more pale.

From Gold in the Sky by Llewellyn

The skinniest, wiriest player on our team slipped behind the Keesler defense to urinate on the Airmen’s goal, an obvious foul.

From New York Times ● Aug. 18, 2021

He is the wiriest athlete I know—extraordinary physical strength for his size—and one of the cleverest rascals out as a politician.

From Marcella by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

But one luckless day, as Featherhead was lolling in his hole, up came two boys with the friskiest, wiriest Scotch terrier you ever saw.

From Queer Little Folks by Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Several hours of hard fighting then ensued, but in the end when the mustang was conquered he made the toughest and wiriest of cow-ponies.

From The Indians' Last Fight Or The Dull Knife Raid by Collins, Dennis

Sometimes one could pick up a team of these ponies and find them the toughest and wiriest animals that were ever hitched to a buckboard.

From The Indians' Last Fight Or The Dull Knife Raid by Collins, Dennis

Related Words

• agile
• athletic
• limber
• muscular
• sinewy
• strapping
• supple