leery

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈlɪri/ UK /ˈlɪəri/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like lily /l/ vs /r/

Meanings

1

adj
wary or suspicious; cautious because of distrust

Investors were leery of the company's vague promises.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · wary or suspicious;... wary suspicious cautious distrustful guarded chary skeptical

Opposites

trusting credulous unwary confident

Word family

Derived forms leerinessleerily

Related forms leer

Simplified etymology

Leery, meaning “cautious or wary,” dates from the late 17th century. It is related to leer, which is traced to Old English hleor, “cheek”; the slang word lairy later developed as a form of leery.

Etymology

From leer ('to look askance') + -y, with the sense 'on one's guard, looking warily'. Leer derives from Old English hlēor ('cheek, face').

hlēor Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# leery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈlɪri/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈlɪəri/

## Meanings
1. wary or suspicious; cautious because of distrust

## Examples
- Investors were leery of the company's vague promises.

## Synonyms
- wary
- suspicious
- cautious
- distrustful
- guarded
- chary
- skeptical

## Antonyms
- trusting
- credulous
- unwary
- confident

## Derived Forms
- leeriness
- leerily

## Related Forms
- leer

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hlēor

## Etymology
From leer ('to look askance') + -y, with the sense 'on one's guard, looking warily'. Leer derives from Old English hlēor ('cheek, face').

## AI Etymology
Leery comes from leer ('to look askance') + -y, with the sense 'on one's guard, looking warily'. Leer derives from Old English hlēor ('cheek, face'). The etymological trail includes Old English hlēor. The same word family includes leeriness, leerily, leer. Its current adjective use means "wary or suspicious; cautious because of distrust".

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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