leery

CEFRB2

/ˈlɪəɹi/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

Sly; artful; knowing.
Cautious or wary due to realistic suspicions.
Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns.

In context

Since he was bitten by a dog when he was young, he has always been leery of animals.
“[…]He was one of their top gun-fighters—always up to his ears in the thick of any fightin' that was goin' on. He never was leery of anything on two feet, I'll say that much for'm.”
And there was a particularly brutal villain with leery eyes, ugly mouth, with one tooth gone, and an iron jaw like a hull-dog's.

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Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

“[…]He was one of their top gun-fighters—always up to his ears in the thick of any fightin' that was goin' on. He never was leery of anything on two feet, I'll say that much for'm.”
1913 October, Jack London, chapter X, in The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC
“He's so darn afraid you'll be offended if he smokes. You scare him. Every time he speaks of the weather you jump him because he ain't talking about poetry or Gertie—Goethe?—or some other highbrow junk. You've got him so leery he scarcely dares to come here.”
1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XIV, in Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC
And there was a particularly brutal villain with leery eyes, ugly mouth, with one tooth gone, and an iron jaw like a hull-dog's.
1902, Francis Hopkinson Smith, chapter X, in The Fortunes of Oliver Horn

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First attested in 1718, “untrustful, suspicious”, either from leer (“sideward look”) + -y, lear (“learning, knowledge”) + -y. More at leer, lear.