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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

leery.

Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈlɪəɹi/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɪːɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˈlɪɹi//ˈlɪɚi/US
  1. Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns.

    Since he was bitten by a dog when he was young, he has always been leery of animals.
  2. Sly; artful; knowing.

    UK · obsolete · slang
  3. Leering; lecherous or unpleasant.

Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.