''leery'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''leery'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260127004310-00-⌔

leery - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

leery (comparative leerier, superlative leeriest)

• 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.
  • ✤ “[…] 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.”¹
  • ✤ “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.”²
• (UK, obsolete, slang) Sly; artful; knowing.
• (of a look or smile) Leering; lecherous or unpleasant.
  • ✤ 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.³

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Australian) IPA: /ˈlɪəɹi/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• (General American, mirror–nearer merger) IPA: /ˈlɪɹi/
  • Audio: 🔊
• (US, without the mirror–nearer merger) IPA: /ˈlɪɚi/, /ˈliɹi/
• (Scotland) IPA: /ˈliɹɪ/, /ˈliɹe/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈliəɹi/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ˈlɛːɹi/
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹi
• Homophone: lairy (cheer–chair merger)

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1913 October, Jack London, chapter X, in The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC: ↩

2. 1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XIV, in Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC: ↩

3. 1902, Francis Hopkinson Smith, chapter X, in The Fortunes of Oliver Horn ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

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Secondary

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