Dictionary

leery en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• audio
• /-ɾi/ (Scotland)
• /ˈlɛːɹi/ East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
• /ˈliɾe/ (Scotland)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈliəɹi/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈlɪɚi/ (US) without the mirror–nearer merger
• /ˈlɪɹi/ General American, mirror–nearer merger
• /ˈlɪːɹɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈliɹi/ (US) without the mirror–nearer merger
• /-ɾɪ/ (Scotland)
• /ˈlɪəɹi/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

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

Meanings

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.
   • “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:
   • It probably seems crazy, crazy, a graveyard theory A ghost tried to approach me, he got leery 2001, “A Ghost’s Pumpkin Soup ...for Pumpkin Hill”, in Sonic Adventure 2:
   • “[…]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:
2. (UK, obsolete, slang) Sly; artful; knowing.
3. (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. 1902, Francis Hopkinson Smith, chapter X, in The Fortunes of Oliver Horn:

Forms

Deriveds

leerily · leeriness · unleery

Translations (17)

bg предпазлив (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · de argwöhnisch (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · cs nedůvěřivý (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · nl argwaanend (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · ro suspicios (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · cs opatrný (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · nl wantrouwend (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · ro îngrijorat (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · es desconfiado (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · ro ezitant (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · nl argwanend (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · bg подозрителен (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · ru осмотрительный (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · ro precaut (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · pl podejrzliwy (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · es cauteloso (cautious, hesitant, or nervous) · es receloso (cautious, hesitant, or nervous)