Wary

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: war=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

Wary, a. [OE. war, AS. wær; akin to Icel. vrr, Dan. & Sw. var, Goth. wars, G. gewahr aware, OHG. wara notice, attention, Gr. to see. Cf. Aware, Garment, Garnish, Garrison, Panorama, Ward, v. t. Ware, a., Warren.].

•  Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise against the living labors of public men."  [1913 Webster]
•  Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.  [1913 Webster]

  "It behoveth our words to be wary and few."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Cautious; circumspect; watchful. See Cautious.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Wary, adj. (warier, wariest)
1 on one's guard; given to caution; circumspect.
2 (foll. by of) cautious, suspicious (am wary of using lifts).
3 showing or done with caution or suspicion (a wary expression).

Derivative

warily adv. wariness n.

Etymology

WARE(2) + -Y(1)

THESAURUS

Wary

Argus-eyed, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, Pyrrhonic, Scotch, acute, agnostic, all ears, all eyes, arch, artful, astute, aux aguets, cagey, calculating, canny, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect, clever, considerate, crafty, cunning, custodial, cute, deceitful, deep, deep-laid, designing, diplomatic, discreet, disinclined to believe, disposed to doubt, distrustful, doubtful, doubting, dubious, eagle-eyed, feline, foxy, from Missouri, frugal, gingerly, guarded, guileful, hard of belief, hawk-eyed, impervious to persuasion, in doubt, inconvincible, incredulous, ingenious, insidious, inventive, keen-eyed, knowing, leery, lidless, mistrustful, mistrusting, observant, on guard, on the lookout, on the watch, open-eyed, pawky, politic, provident, prudent, questioning, ready, resourceful, safe, saving, scheming, scrupulous, serpentine, sharp, sharp-eyed, shifty, shrewd, shy, shy of belief, skeptical, sleepless, slick, slippery, sly, smooth, snaky, sneaky, sophistical, stealthy, strategic, subtile, subtle, supple, suspecting, suspicious, tactical, thrifty, trickish, tricksy, tricky, uncertain, unconvincible, uncredulous, unpersuadable, unpersuasible, untrusting, unwasteful, unwilling to accept, vigilant, vulpine, watchful, wily, with open eyes

ROGET THESAURUS

Wary

Caution

N caution, cautiousness, discretion, prudence, cautel, heed, circumspection, calculation, deliberation, foresight, vigilance, warning, coolness, self-possession, self-command, presence of mind, sang froid, well-regulated mind, worldly wisdom, Fabian policy, cautious, wary, guarded, on one's guard, cavendo tutus, in medio tutissimus, vigilant, careful, heedful, cautelous, stealthy, chary, shy of, circumspect, prudent, discreet, politic, sure-footed, unenterprising, unadventurous, cool, steady, self-possessed, overcautious, cautiously, Int, have a care!, timeo Danaos, festina lente, ante victoriam ne canas triumphum, don't sing out victory before the triumph, give, every man thine ear but few thy voice, he who laughs last laughs best, il rit bien qui rit le dernier, ni firmes carta que no leas ni bebas agua que no v, nescit vox missa reverti, love all, trust a few, noli irritare leones, safe bind safe find, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.