WARY (warier, wariest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: warier    , wariest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wary mean? 

• WARY (adjective)
  The adjective WARY has 2 senses:

1. marked by keen caution and watchful prudence

2. openly distrustful and unwilling to confide

  Familiarity information: WARY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WARY (adjective)

Comparative: warier   
Superlative: wariest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by keen caution and watchful prudence

Context example:

taught to be wary of strangers

Similar:

on guard; on one's guard; on your guard; upon one's guard (vigilant)

shy (wary and distrustful; disposed to avoid persons or things)

Attribute:

chariness; wariness (the trait of being cautious and watchful)

Antonym:

unwary (not alert to danger or deception)

Derivation:

wariness (the trait of being cautious and watchful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Openly distrustful and unwilling to confide

Synonyms:

leery; mistrustful; suspicious; untrusting; wary

Similar:

distrustful (having or showing distrust)

Derivation:

wariness (the trait of being cautious and watchful)

 Context examples 

While he kept a wary eye on his antagonist, he glanced at Lizzie.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Tranter, cunning and wary from years of fighting, knew that his chance had come.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Beauty Smith kept a wary eye on him, and the club was held always ready to strike.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I saw that my friend was not intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

We must be wary for a while, if we are to get the information which we want.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“That?” returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye a mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In the time to come, I shall have a wary eye on all admirers; and shall exact a great deal from the successful one, I assure you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Fish, in open pools, were not too quick for him; nor were beaver, mending their dams, too wary.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was because it refused to die that he still ate muskeg berries and minnows, drank his hot water, and kept a wary eye on the sick wolf.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It all came about so naturally that no one could complain, and he knew that everybody would be pleased, even Jo. But when our first little passion has been crushed, we are apt to be wary and slow in making a second trial, so Laurie let the days pass, enjoying every hour, and leaving to chance the utterance of the word that would put an end to the first and sweetest part of his new romance.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)