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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"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:
With a wary public already raising concerns about data centers drawing on local electricity supply and consequently driving up power bills, some hyperscalers have talked up the opportunity to run the facilities using nuclear power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
He was also wary of the prospect of a Red Roses' Six Nations match being staged in the United States.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Mistral also appeals to companies wary of exposing their data to US-based hyperscalers, since the AI models and their results remain in house.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
His father, Francisco, was also wary, afraid that the town’s militarization would somehow provoke further conflict.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Hazel knew she should be wary, knew she shouldn’t trust a boy in the woods, but she had no wariness left.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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
Far warier — though less cautious — on the world stage than in 1941.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 16, 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
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.
