Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. On guard; watchful: taught to be wary of strangers.
- adj. Characterized by caution: a wary glance at the black clouds.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; watchful; on the alert against surprise or danger; ever on one's guard.
- Guarded; careful as to doing or not doing something; chary.
- Characterized by caution; guarded.
- Prudent; circumspect; wise.
- Synonyms Careful, circumspect, etc. See list under cautious.
- Same as warry.
Wiktionary
- adj. Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
- adj. Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
- adj. Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
- adj. openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
Etymologies
- From the adjective ware + -y. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English ware, from Old English wær; see wer-3 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She sat in the chair opposite from him, her expression wary.”
“He stopped and slowly turned, his expression wary.”
“— And Celebrating A dispatch from Beijing: After the Peace Prize, China's democracy activists remain wary and watched.”
“Washington should remain wary of attempts by Correa's regional allies to inflame the situation.”
The Huffington Post: Joel D. Hirst: Ecuador's Coup That Wasn't
“Warren Buffett praised the U.S. government Tuesday for its efforts to heal the economy, but the influential investor said he expects a slow recovery as consumers remain wary of spending.”
“Yet some governments remain wary that such investment will lead to the 'development trap': a flood of cash that results in heightened corruption and largesse without building indigenous capacity, knowledge, management skills, or that allows movement up the global economic value chain.”
The Huffington Post: StephenGoldsmith: FDI with Chinese Characteristics
“As Connecticut voters remain wary of Sen. Chris Dodd, one state Democrat is openly suggesting the five-term senator abandon his re-election bid 'for the good of the party.”
“(CNN) - As Connecticut voters remain wary of Sen. Chris Dodd, one state Democrat is openly suggesting the five-term senator abandon his re-election bid "for the good of the party.”
“In particular, reducing rating over-reliance will require finding appropriate replacements, and it will be important that the authorities remain wary of unintended adverse consequences.”
The Guardian: IMF urges credit rating agencies to provide greater clarity
“Still, some economists remain wary about the potential for action at Thursday's meeting.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wary’.
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Introverted
Quiet, shy, Introverted, reserved, isolated, mysterious
abashed, alienated, alone, anonymous, antisocial, ascetic, asocial, austere, autonomous, awkward, bashful, clannish and 91 more...
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vocab 2
accrue, lenity, pellucid, smitten, implore, scrupulous, recalcitrant, melancholy, trudge, reverie, convivial, corrigible and 19 more...
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Express Yourself
Words Describing Emotions
abhor, diffident, bullience, effusice, enervate, frenetic, impetuous, implacable, listless, mercurial, rancorous, reticent and 7 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1861 more...
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September Words-11849
During the month of September, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has...
psilocybin, raca, schema, myriad, copacetic, chastise, fractal, tourniquet, turncoat, vicarious, surreptitiously, clandestine and 34 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
abjure, allay, complacent, connoisseur, debilitate, deter, discreet, evanescent, foment, glean, impetuous, occult and 8 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 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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A Provincial Glossary, 1787
A list of provincial English words that appear in Francis Grose's A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular Superstitions. London, MDCCLXXXVII. Printed for S. Hooper, N...
tharky, velling, cadma, whinnock, caingel, giglet, gill-houter, leasing, leech-way, dellfin, underwood, dilvered and 193 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for wary.

hernesheir To lay eggs (north of England). Cf. warp.
To curse or execrate (Lancashire). May 17, 2011
agustinolvera "Charlies face was suddenly wary". Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer page10 Oct 4, 2010