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wary
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show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • The parents waited, wary of us; then at last they dropped into the garden.   (source)
  • She wished she had run out when he'd first walked in, but she had stopped being wary, stopped being afraid.   (source)
    wary = nervous or distrustful
  • My dad smiled, talked, and was shocked and nervous when the gun was pulled on him. Shouldn't he have been wary all along?   (source)
    wary = careful or distrustful
  • In the south, the stegosaur was swinging its spiked tail, warily circling the baby tyrannosaur, which watched it, bemused, and occasionally lunged forward to nip ineffectually at the spikes.†   (source)
    warily = in a nervous or distrustful manner
  • Now a snake, especially a wary old python like Kaa, very seldom shows that he is angry, but Baloo and Bagheera could see the big swallowing muscles on either side of Kaa's throat ripple and bulge.   (source)
    wary = careful
  • Sadie approached him warily, but he smiled at her, and a few minutes later they were talking and laughing.†   (source)
  • In our country, where the army has seized power so many times, people are often wary of the military, particularly those from Swat, where the army had taken so long to act against the Taliban.†   (source)
  • Baba met Hassan's wary—and puzzled—eyes.†   (source)
  • "Sure thing," the clerk replied warily.†   (source)
  • He cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and wizards on the walls.†   (source)
  • They look wary and exhausted.†   (source)
  • A little more than a year after McCandless's death he regards the world through wary blue eyes.†   (source)
  • All of the airmen were wary of Green Hornet.†   (source)
  • Asher looked warily at him.†   (source)
  • Officer Delinko braked the Crown Victoria and peered warily through the windshield.†   (source)
  • Wary of giving away game plans, the heirs decided the questions would be written out, but no names were to be signed.†   (source)
  • It was, again, a gracious gesture, and, unlike Dink, Carby did not seem wary.†   (source)
  • Edgar, wary of what had happened the last time he'd looked, forced himself to concentrate on wrenching a pair of car wheels free.†   (source)
  • Peter's still watching me warily.†   (source)
  • I said warily.†   (source)
  • And just like a king, he must now be wary of people's motives for befriending him or taking him into their confidence.†   (source)
  • Grover studied me warily.†   (source)
  • Wary of potential violence, several states implemented reforms to eliminate the most abusive practices.†   (source)
  • Granddad peered around the table in wary silence.†   (source)
  • Sophie's eyes were wary.†   (source)
  • Thomas replied, wary.†   (source)
  • One stood back while the other stepped forward warily.†   (source)
  • But Frau Elena watches the boys with wary eyes: not so long ago they were feral toddlers skulking in their cots and crying for their mothers.†   (source)
  • That Silas had volunteered to be the boy's guardian had weight—Silas was regarded with a certain wary awe by the graveyard folk, existing as he did on the borderland between their world and the world they had left.†   (source)
  • The judge looked warily at Joe, uncertain whether he was merely having a laugh at the court's expense, or whether he might actually be slipping a fast one by him.†   (source)
  • Cole eyed the stick warily as Edwin waded out into the clear pond.†   (source)
  • "Yes," I said warily.†   (source)
  • A man of his size, Horace thought, must take it as a duty to imply no menace or risk that his neighbors will be wary of him.†   (source)
  • Meg eyed the principal warily, and ran her tongue over the barbed line of her braces.†   (source)
  • I remember Rose turned and looked at me across the yard, and I remember a momentary inner clang, an instinctive certainty that wariness was called for, but then Caroline looked up and smiled, waved me over.†   (source)
  • Aria looked around warily.†   (source)
  • 'Yes,' he said warily.†   (source)
  • Let the past make you wary, by all means.†   (source)
  • When they settled down, they stared at him warily.†   (source)
  • "I'm sure the princess has her reasons," Dorian said warily, disgusted by his mother's unspoken prejudice.†   (source)
  • I look up at him warily, but I do what he says.†   (source)
  • Will knelt, looked around warily, and snatched it up.†   (source)
  • I ask warily but less belligerently.†   (source)
  • I am sincere and she knows this, but she is still wary.†   (source)
  • She nods as I speak, her eyes wide, wary and perhaps even hopeful.†   (source)
  • He looked back at me warily with one eye.†   (source)
  • He too had been wary of the notion when it occurred to him.†   (source)
  • They seem wary of me; the sight of my spyglass makes them scatter in an instant.†   (source)
  • She still looks wary of me.†   (source)
  • But I was wary; it seemed too good to be true.†   (source)
  • Warily, she moved backward away from him, but he made no move to attack her, and did not even look up.†   (source)
  • Besides being doubtful he'd be able to get the generator into the canoe, he was wary of picking up anything of value.†   (source)
  • So you have to be wary of birds, Francis, birds and Englishmen.†   (source)
  • Sampson asked warily.†   (source)
  • Ralph moved, bent down, kept a wary eye on Jack.†   (source)
  • For a few hours those wary anxious eyes had been filled with shining trust and happiness.†   (source)
  • Even as her obsession grew I remained wary of her, until that last week before Christmas when she saw something in the hallway of our school.†   (source)
  • Cinder allowed one more wary scan of the crowd before the first tickle of giddiness stirred inside her.†   (source)
  • On the days that the radio played Ammu's songs, everyone was a little wary of her.†   (source)
  • But the fire was there and he approached warily, from a long way off.†   (source)
  • Artemis felt his way across the room, wary of the low-level clothes chests scattered about the floor.†   (source)
  • I was also still wary of him.†   (source)
  • GINNY and HARRY watch each other warily.†   (source)
  • Warily he eyed me when I came in, nostrils flaring if I made too much noise with the silverware or the cereal bowl.†   (source)
  • I realize that we are often wary of making these kinds of broad generalizations about different cultural groups, and with good reason.†   (source)
  • Her uncle is also wary of the drug-addicted teenager.†   (source)
  • "I know," she says quickly, defensively, but stays frozen where she is, watching me warily.†   (source)
  • Inside the ward, all the nurses look toward the door, their heavy eyes wary.†   (source)
  • I suppose it was because even at that age—we were nine or ten—we knew just enough to make us wary of that whole territory.†   (source)
  • The face of a '30s screwball-movie queen doesn't always translate in our pixie-princess times, but I know from our years together that men like my sister, a lot, which puts me in that strange brotherly realm of being both proud and wary.†   (source)
  • She turned to her childhood friend and a faint, wary smile played about her eyes and lips.†   (source)
  • Dustfinger followed warily, with his battered backpack over his shoulder.†   (source)
  • We tried to soak up Pancho's leanness, his half-smile and tight eyes that made him look so knowledgeable, unafraid and wary.†   (source)
  • He looked at me warily.†   (source)
  • A squirrel, halfway up the wide trunk of a maple tree, watched them warily.†   (source)
  • The creatures which had lived there before were small and tough and infinitely wary, and so were the creatures imported from Old Earth, including the human kind.†   (source)
  • I was a little wary of Marcus.†   (source)
  • Somehow, having Marley aboard with us, and seeing how strangers eyed him so warily, gave us a sense of peace we might not have had otherwise.†   (source)
  • Be wary of folly.†   (source)
  • They all looked at me warily, except for the cook, who draped a towel over her shoulder and began to whet a knife of the sort used to chop the heads off fish.†   (source)
  • They were split between admiration and wariness of his dangerous presence among them.†   (source)
  • I'm a bit of an acquired taste in that sense, and after only one semester, some were still noticeably wary of me.†   (source)
  • I don't know if it's another case of his being wary of committing to something he might not be able to hold on to, or if he has confused the music studio with his studio apartment.†   (source)
  • A bit nervously, Colton slunk back around the couch and faced his mom again, this time much more warily.†   (source)
  • Still wary, I sat on the floor, leaning against another bench, and pulled a blanket up over my legs.†   (source)
  • Nicholas Flamel approached the rats warily.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Lincoln backed down the porch steps warily, and disappeared into the darkness of the old Desert Sand.†   (source)
  • Burnham loved Chicago for the opportunity it afforded, but he grew wary of the city itself.†   (source)
  • "Sal?" called Master Elihu Lockton, thinner from his exile, eyes bloodshot and wary.†   (source)
  • Warily I accepted it.†   (source)
  • I'd slide this awful story off my shoulders, flatten it, sketch out our crimes like a failed battle plan and shake it in the faces of my neighbors, who are wary of me already.†   (source)
  • Moving warily, he scrambled back down the slope of the roof on his hands and knees past the line of demarcation where the fresh green Bird shingles gave way to the section of roof he had just finished clearing.†   (source)
  • I'd also learned in Fallujah to keep my helmet cinched tight, wary of the chips and cement frags that flew from the battered masonry during a firefight.†   (source)
  • He was rather wary of the stranger.†   (source)
  • She scooped Claudia into her arms, and Claudia rode round in circles with her, her own small face alert and wary behind her smile.†   (source)
  • Clary watched him warily as he bit into it.†   (source)
  • I dialled his number and listened to his voice when he picked up, at first soft with sleep, and then louder, wary, worried, exasperated.†   (source)
  • Lemming was wary of kids with bad grades, criminal records, or anything else that suggested they'd never get to college, much less through it.†   (source)
  • At first wary of the boy's reputation, Sasha saw something in him that others missed.†   (source)
  • I was wary now.†   (source)
  • I knew there was a lot of politics involved in these competitions, and my experiences in China had made me wary of going to Russia.†   (source)
  • By this point, Hiro's face was frozen in a wary, astonished position that Juanita later made extensive use of in her work.†   (source)
  • He kept one eye on the radar map, and kept glancing warily into the rearview mirror.†   (source)
  • The hostile, wary looks of the goatherds on the trail were typical, but they did not reflect the views of the majority.†   (source)
  • A little warily, she summoned her team, who gathered in front of the referee some ten yards from their bench.†   (source)
  • I was a bit wary of relationships because I'd seen that most of the ones in my family didn't work out.†   (source)
  • They were together in silence like an old married couple wary of life, beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of disillusion: beyond love.†   (source)
  • They stared at each other warily for several seconds and then hugged each other for much longer.†   (source)
  • I gave Doctor Nolan a wary look.†   (source)
  • He's a little wary about the Official, too.†   (source)
  • Wariness veiled his eyes when he glanced at the Reverend Mother, but this time he nodded to her, the nod one gives an equal.†   (source)
  • He's one of those shadowy people you can't imagine ever having been a kid; the kind of man a dog circles warily, his hackles at attention.†   (source)
  • "Okay," I said warily.†   (source)
  • Sycophantic ... As a newcomer Molly had liked the distance her persona created, the wariness and mistrust she saw in the eyes of her peers.†   (source)
  • Reverend Lanier greeted me warily in his study.†   (source)
  • He opened his eyes to see her stepping back, her eyes, bright and wary, fixed on his, her scissors glinting.†   (source)
  • I don't know if her desire finally won out, or if I'd managed to exhaust even her wariness, but by the time she appeared, peeking out from around her dressing room's door, I was so relieved I almost cried.†   (source)
  • Though he didn't know it, moments like this were particularly important to him, for they were transforming him from an eager, confident naval officer with a ringing voice into an inert, though wary, zek.†   (source)
  • A heavyset man emerged from the raised cubicle in the far corner and moved warily toward her, head tilted to get a clearer sightline.†   (source)
  • And without any coaxing, he went back to the water and after a few wary sniffs, drank as if nothing had happened.†   (source)
  • The uproar left him wary of backing political candidates.†   (source)
  • They forgave him, but continued to keep a wary eye out for signs of drug usage.†   (source)
  • The applause was odd—not quite unwilling, not quite free; wary, rather, in recognition of a force not quite to be trusted but certainly to be watched.†   (source)
  • She has the same wary expression as we leave the restaurant.†   (source)
  • The aid worker, wary of the trafficker's enticements, persuaded Neth not to take the risk.†   (source)
  • I stow Bree and give Heather a wary once-over.†   (source)
  • The street was lined with wary onlookers who, like us, had been indoors much too long.†   (source)
  • I watched him warily while I coughed the water out of my lungs.†   (source)
  • There they saw a small, trembling rabbit that lay partially strangled as it eyed them warily.†   (source)
  • I'm a bit wary, because I know Smith's doesn't like you copying down stuff out of their books.†   (source)
  • "They tried getting this fencer yesterday, some of the standard enforcers, but it seems he has certain sword skills that made them wary, but I think I have a trick that will work" The quiet one hurried along behind, dragging the wagon.†   (source)
  • He and SEEf faced each other warily.†   (source)
  • When he finally quiets, both men are staring at him with wary, glazed smiles, and Cedric Jennings knows, at long last, that the time has come for him to leave this place behind.†   (source)
  • Lorena felt wary.†   (source)
  • When Stoddard turned out to be a regular worker, punctual, amenable to discipline, he congratulated himself, and praised his assistant, but warily.†   (source)
  • Ben was leaning on the wall, cradling his rifle and eyeing Evan warily, like he was sure any second Evan would bolt out of bed and make another attempt to take us out.†   (source)
  • I could hear the wariness in her voice, like a curtain going down.†   (source)
  • At Yardley's Ferry, where Greene's troops crossed, the river was iced over, just thick enough for the men to pick their way warily across, but too thin for horses and cannon.†   (source)
  • "The Pantheon?" he asks warily.†   (source)
  • But Roonwit said, "Sire, be wary in your just wrath.†   (source)
  • He would answer her, but warily at first, as if he was waiting to be sure just who she was.†   (source)
  • He did the same, and we faced each other warily, waiting to see who would speak the first word.†   (source)
  • Yossarian eyed everyone he saw warily when he returned to the squadron from the hospital.†   (source)
  • But like her, I am wary of things that seem too good, too much.†   (source)
  • Fox shot off toward the edge, spooked enough to send a couple of wary looks over his shoulder.†   (source)
  • They are wary, Director.†   (source)
  • Mahtob clutched at me warily as the doctor examined the wound and assembled his instruments.†   (source)
  • He had no idea what shape it would be, but he was wary of it.†   (source)
  • "Miss Doyle," she says, peering up at me warily, "are you quite sure the odor on your breath is from marmalade and not some other substance?"†   (source)
  • Annette seemed scared of most other prisoners, but not Nina, who was Brooklyn street-smart, and just as wary of others as Annette: "They're all wackos—they make me sick."†   (source)
  • Claire looked at me warily.†   (source)
  • Not surprisingly, Herschel was wary of Lettie Lang.†   (source)
  • I no longer felt dazed, tired, half hypnotized, but alert and wary, ready to defend myself.†   (source)
  • Better to have Monroe and Sinatra and the Mafia as enemies whom he can view from a wary distance, rather than as friends who could drag him down.†   (source)
  • I can tell he's a formidable opponent by the way the others warily approach him even though he is injured and far outnumbered.†   (source)
  • Be bold, but wary!†   (source)
  • But I couldn't help feeling wary.†   (source)
  • Since leaving the warren of the snares they had become warier, shrewder, a tenacious band who understood each other and worked together.†   (source)
  • John whispered back, keeping a wary eye on the dragon, "as opposed to, well, regular dragons?"†   (source)
  • Conrad is looking at her warily.†   (source)
  • Since no cows were playing among the waves in front of him, I knew that he did not have a herd of his own, and for that reason would not be so wary or quickly angered.†   (source)
  • Eve was already wary.†   (source)
  • Rachelle and Johan separated and circled each other warily.†   (source)
  • Their lives up until then had been kids' lives: hunting, fishing, paper routes; the movies, adventure programs on the radio, altar duties at church; first wary contact with girls.†   (source)
  • "Daddy's not that bad," I mumbled, feeling suddenly protective of him and wary of the woman sitting across from me.†   (source)
  • "Yes, America," Mortenson said, warily.†   (source)
  • A few of my fellow Scholars look twice at me, some with wariness, others with sympathy.†   (source)
  • Wells glanced at him warily, then gave a curt nod.†   (source)
  • "We're alive," Emma replied, looking around warily.†   (source)
  • He came to see his early failure as a lucky break, an accidental escape from a trap that had been set for him, and he was very trap-wary about institutional truths for the remainder of his time.†   (source)
  • Watching him warily, I got to my feet.†   (source)
  • Those same eyes were cold, darting eyes, evidence of a demanding man wary of his surroundings.†   (source)
  • Even though this was rarely enforced, many plantation owners were wary that the contracts might be upheld by the government or British interference.†   (source)
  • The convention was a success, yet I remained wary, as the prime mover behind it was the party.†   (source)
  • Mark approached the door warily.†   (source)
  • Iris approaches warily, then plunks herself down between us.†   (source)
  • Lock was open; cursed and stopped to dog it as I went through, warily—saw why it was open; boy who had been guarding it was dead.†   (source)
  • Suddenly Lourdes's wandering eye, like a wary spy, fixes on the quarters sliding across the counter to Maribel.†   (source)
  • She was not angry, but wary.†   (source)
  • The track workers, the switchmen, the yardmen, who had always greeted her, anywhere along the line, their cheerful grins boasting that they knew who she was-had now looked at her stonily, turning away, their faces wary and closed.†   (source)
  • "You speak of wonderful things," my father ventured warily.†   (source)
  • The cockerel patrolled some distance away, warily twitching his head and groaning.†   (source)
  • Wary at first, but then melting, he introduced Bernie by letter to his youngest sister, Carla, and took great pride when his new friend and his favorite sister began exchanging a daily correspondence.†   (source)
  • I went closer, and then a little closer still, but keeping warily out of range, I judged, of those spidery arms.†   (source)
  • She looked distant and distracted and wary.†   (source)
  • An alleycat crossed before him, casting him a wary glance as it pranced by.†   (source)
  • His voice had barely changed, but a new alertness colored it, a shade of wariness.†   (source)
  • "Give me something to do," she says, with just the barest hint of wariness.†   (source)
  • George Dougett cleared his throat, looked warily at his wife and said, "Some other things I saw."†   (source)
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