wary
adjective
Simple meaning
Cautious because something might be dangerous.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wehreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɛɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, trickery, and dangers; suspiciously prudent
Characterized by caution; guarded; careful; on one's guard
Marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
“They were wary in their movements.”
Thrifty, provident
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, trickery, and dangers; suspiciously prudent
Used this way, wary is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use wary
- “They were wary in their movements.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.