chary
1
9.5
- adjective
- /ˈtʃɛri/
- Formal
:
cauteloso
- She was chary about investing in the start-up without first seeing its business plan.
Examples
-
Our courts restrict opinions from witnesses, are chary of inferences, and prefer firsthand testimony about facts.
Academic text (1993) -
Maybe she did, and her sister was just chary of relating it; it's not something I can know.
Fiction book (1993) -
Peacekeepers chary of violence are also unable to effectively protect civilians who are caught up in the fighting or are deliberately attacked.
Academic text (1999) -
Reyes had walked back slowly, chary of the dreadful scene she feared she would find.
Fiction book (1999) -
Kings, by definition, lacked living grandfathers and were chary of ambitious grandsons.
Academic text (2005) -
I am chary of wading into abstractions too much because the very last thing I'd want to appear is glib.
Blog text (7) -
All are chary of free riders—banks who try to duck their obligation to their peers by refusing to lend again.
Academic text (1991) -
Given all the concern in the art community about confronting urgent sociopolitical problems, from the status of women to the fate of the environment, it was distinctly chary about responding to the terrorist attacks of that day.
Academic text (2009) -
Although firmly Brahmin by origin, Jackson was chary of the fleeting fashions and power tropes of what he sometimes dubbed the Establishment.
Academic text (1998) -
In an essay on Ernest Hemingway, she commented: "A writer will always be chary of dialogue because dialogue puts the most violent pressure upon the reader's attention."
Academic text (2005)
Synonyms
210
2.9
Careful to avoid risk or mistakes
110
3.6
Careful because you do not trust someone or something
23
6.9
Careful because you do not trust someone or something
15
7.5
Careful not to give away information or show their plans
Very careful about what they say and show to avoid trouble or gain advantage
Antonyms
How Cautious
Surface Forms
Etymology
Chary comes from an old English word for care, which meant 'worry' or 'caution' and is the same idea as the common word careful. So, to be chary is to 'take care' and avoid risks.