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:
GC: I think New York is just a much more competitive place and people are very wary of having ideas stolen from them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
His longtime personal curator, Elizabeth Szancer, says Lauder and his wife, Jo Carole Lauder, are lending fewer pieces to other museums, wary of being parted too long from works they want to see daily.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
Such strong gains in AI chip stocks earlier this year have left some investors wary about being too quick to buy.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
Many people in Spain have now become wary of taking the train, with reports of widespread cancellations and empty station platforms.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Marco chooses his words carefully, wary about the direction the conversation is taking.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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
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
Omicron and other variants can make Americans warier about going out shopping, reducing the consumer spending that drives 70% of U.S. economic activity.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
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
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
