Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Very cautious; wary: was chary of the risks involved.
- adj. Not giving or expending freely; sparing: was chary of compliments.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Careful; disposed to cherish with care; cautious: often with of.
- Sparing; not lavish; not disposed to give freely; frugal: absolute or with of: as, chary of compliments; chary of favors.
- Charily; carefully.
Wiktionary
- adj. obsolete Sad; sorrowful; grievous.
- adj. Disposed to cherish with care; careful.
- adj. Cautious; wary; shy.
- adj. Sparing; not lavish; not disposed to give freely; frugal; ungenerous.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Careful; wary; cautious; not rash, or reckless.
- adj. Saving; frugal; sparing; not spendthrift; -- often used with of.
- adj. Fastidious; picky; choosy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. characterized by great caution and wariness
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old English ċeariġ ("careful, sorrowful, pensive, wary, chary, anxious, grievous, dire"), from Proto-Germanic *karagaz (“anxious, sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵār- (“voice, exclamation”), equivalent to care + -y. Cognate with Dutch karig ("scant, sparing, austere"), German karg ("meagre, barren, poor") and Norwegian karrig ("meagre, barren, poor"). More at care. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English chari, careful, sorrowful, from Old English cearig, sorrowful, from cearu, sorrow; see care. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Telangana JAC district convenor Dr. K.naka chary and Co,. convener, K. Rangaraju and a host of other leaders took part.”
“Maybe they are, in some strange way, but I'll bet Sy hersh really said, "chary", or even "wary".”
“This year, six students went that far until stumped by the words "chary," "nadir" and "yamen" in the next three rounds.”
“But yes, good of Prof. Adler, who I hope will be a little chary of Althousian pseudoreality in future.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Taking the Washington Post to School
“Some of us are chary of giving every stranger in ping-shot a pretext for striking up a conversation.”
“Felix et errabunda XIV graphic, in-the-flesh evidence of what abuse and suffocation are doing to me the sweet, animal wisdom that allowed me to sleep for most of two days (just what I needed) all the extra sleep that makes me look ten years younger having so many friends who care wow! high praise from a once-chary mentor this, at least setting healthy limits …”
“As in, the gentleman is chary about voicing his concerns.”
“It looked like the opportunity to make some chary inquiries had presented itself.”
“But over time those anomalies have taken on meaning to viewers, so he's chary of jettisoning them in the name of authenticity.”
The Washington Post: Movies: Ann Hornaday on use of sound effects in 'Secretariat' and other films
“Talk flows from his tongue like the freshets of the spring, but he is chary of deeds.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chary’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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250 More Spelling Words
More words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
melisma, dioecious, jejunity, sialogogue, zingiber, zendik, dithyramb, pneuma, kachina, agiotage, baedeker, sabulous and 238 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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Blood Meridian
scullery, Leonid, parricide, boll, boatswain, walleyed, divest, diffident, rookery, coiffure, heady, garish and 177 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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Hit Parade GRE
Princeton Review words
abscond, aberrant, alacrity, anomaly, approbation, arduous, assuage, audacious, austere, axiomatic, canonical, capricious and 287 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
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Stalking Darkness
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Stalking Darkness.
inquest, halyard, catamount, occlude, founder, more, grouse, grapple, water butt, antepenultimate, palimpsest, hob and 196 more...
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GRE Words
orotund, mendacious, inimical, foment, contumacious, abrogate, arrogate, syncretism, abate, abdication, aberration, abeyance and 123 more...
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Unusual words for Words With Friends
A list of words that WWF recognizes as valid - most are unusual words; some are simply high-scoring.
botel, slipe, jeu, chub, chubs, cote, mure, tittle, dev, loo, hoke, helo and 357 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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my words
interminable, effete, convocation, philistines, malaise, foibles, deputation, anathematized, morass, stalwart, proselytize, abet and 405 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for chary.
Prolagus One should nevertheless avoid hackneyed quotations, even though they be the words of the great. Remembering that quotation is, after all, only adopting for the time being some article of apparel belonging to another, one should be chary of dressing oneself in cast-off clothing.
(John C. Dow) Mar 21, 2008
arby Fans of the Dark Tower series may be reminded of charyou tree - meaning either 'Come, reap' or 'death for you, life for our crops'. Dark Tower Wiki Jul 8, 2007
arby ADJECTIVE: 1. Very cautious; wary: was chary of the risks involved. 2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing: was chary of compliments.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English chari, careful, sorrowful, from Old English cearig, sorrowful, from cearu, sorrow. See care.
OTHER FORMS: charily —ADVERB
chariness —NOUN Jul 8, 2007