Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Dryly humorous, often with a touch of irony.
- adj. Temporarily twisted in an expression of distaste or displeasure: made a wry face.
- adj. Abnormally twisted or bent to one side; crooked: a wry nose.
- adj. Being at variance with what is right, proper, or suitable; perverse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
- v. To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
- v. To divert; to cause to turn away.
- v. To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).
- adj. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
- adj. Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic.
- adj. Twisted, bent, crooked.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- transitive v. To cover.
- adj. Turned to one side; twisted; distorted.
- adj. Hence, deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
- adj. Wrested; perverted.
- intransitive v. To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind.
- intransitive v. To deviate from the right way; to go away or astray; to turn side; to swerve.
- transitive v. To twist; to distort; to writhe; to wrest; to vex.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To turn; bend; wind; twist or twine about, with or without change of place.
- To swerve or go obliquely; go awry or astray; deviate from the right course, physically or morally.
- To turn; twist aside.
- To give a twist to; make wry; writhe; wring.
- Figuratively, to pervert; alter.
- Abnormally bent or turned to one side; in a state of contortion; twisted; distorted; askew.
- Crooked; bent; not straight.
- Devious in course or purpose; divaricating; aberrant; misdirected.
- n. A twisting about, or out of shape or course; distortion; a distorting effect.
- To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. humorously sarcastic or mocking
- adj. bent to one side
Etymologies
Examples
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In the meantime— He smiled again, the expression wry this time.
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-- The term wry-neck or torticollis is applied to a condition in which the head assumes an abnormal attitude, which is usually one of combined lateral flexion and rotation.
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition.
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"No, it did not," G'dath said, his expression wry.
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That allusive, indirect style Westlake assigns to himself gives him plenty of room and time to wander away from his plot and work in wry but dead-on descriptions of people and how they live, the work they do, the things they surround themselves with, the places they go, their eccentricities and vanities and various insanities.
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It has all the great Howard Hawks things: every dame a dish, every night foggy and filled with mystery; but the real thing that keeps me watching, that thrills me to discover another nuance every time I see it, is the joyful tongue in wry cheek that Bogey and Bacall play in every scene together.
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Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine turn in wry, effective performances as Lucius Fox and Alfred the Butler, respectively.
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With so many differences that separate and divide us, I find it a treat to connect with smart, passionate, talented bloggers who offer their experiences in wry or poignant, frank or even silly on-line content in their blog.
Bloggers = Faith Healers? « California Life: Better Than Happy Hour
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Agency, The Sunday Philosophy Club abounds in wry humor and sharp observations of human nature.
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith: Questions
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The edition more than once refers, in wry self-defence, to the description of the character in 1984 who 'was engaged in producing garbled versions - definitive texts, they were called'.
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Webb is sometimes funny in his poems, which often present the author's defects, but he rises above the kind of modesty--often described as "wry"--that asks to be admired.
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