Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective On guard; watchful.
  • adjective Characterized by caution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as warry.
  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
  • adjective Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
  • adjective Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
  • adjective openly distrustful and unwilling to confide

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ware, from Old English wær; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the adjective ware +‎ -y.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Charlies face was suddenly wary". Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer page10

    October 4, 2010

  • To lay eggs (north of England). Cf. warp.

    To curse or execrate (Lancashire).

    May 17, 2011