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WARY
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Irregular inflected forms: warier , wariest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
Example:
taught to be wary of strangers
Classified under:
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
Classified under:
Similar:
distrustful (having or showing distrust)
Derivation:
wariness (the trait of being cautious and watchful)
Context examples:
Gotanda found that finches on islands with predators were wary, and flew away from an approaching researcher - imitating an approaching predator - at a much greater distance than the finches on pristine islands without predators.
(A decade after the predators have gone, Galapagos Island finches are still being spooked, University of Cambridge)
Mr Elliot is a man without heart or conscience; a designing, wary, cold-blooded being, who thinks only of himself; whom for his own interest or ease, would be guilty of any cruelty, or any treachery, that could be perpetrated without risk of his general character.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
“Shalt clip me as best you can then,” quoth the archer, moving out into the open space, and keeping a most wary eye upon his opponent.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He became immensely wary, for he was wise with knowledge of the low cunning and foul vileness of his kind.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He bristled and showed his teeth, his eyes vigilant, his whole body wary and prepared for anything.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
“Put this and that together, my tender pupil,” returned the wary Mowcher, touching her nose, “work it by the rule of Secrets in all trades, and the product will give you the desired result. I say I do a little in that way myself. One Dowager, SHE calls it lip-salve. Another, SHE calls it gloves. Another, SHE calls it tucker-edging. Another, SHE calls it a fan. I call it whatever THEY call it. I supply it for 'em, but we keep up the trick so, to one another, and make believe with such a face, that they'd as soon think of laying it on, before a whole drawing-room, as before me. And when I wait upon 'em, they'll say to me sometimes—WITH IT ON—thick, and no mistake—“How am I looking, Mowcher? Am I pale?”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Wary and careful they must be, with watchful eyes to the right and the left, for this was no man's land, and their only passports were those which hung from their belts.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was always keyed up, alert for attack, wary of being attacked, with an eye for sudden and unexpected missiles, prepared to act precipitately and coolly, to leap in with a flash of teeth, or to leap away with a menacing snarl.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
An unequal fight it seemed to most; but there were a few, and they the most experienced, who saw something in the youth's steady gray eye and wary step which left the issue open to doubt.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
