What's the difference between wary and wry?

Wary


Definition:

  • (a.) Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
  • (a.) Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Republicans remain wary of a contentious debate on the divisive issue, which could anger their core voters and undercut potential electoral gains in the November elections when control of Congress will be at stake.
  • (2) Besides, Francis says, once their reformation had gone on longer than their initial career, the rest of the band were starting to feel wary about just playing the old material, particularly when they found themselves booked to play a Canadian casino, the kind of venue that is traditionally the preserve of oldies acts: "It was just sort of symbolic, like ha-ha, here we are, at the casino.
  • (3) But while France has plainly moved on from the days when François Hollande could say his true enemy was “the world of finance”, major players remain wary of the country’s rigid employment laws .
  • (4) But many inside these Asian nations are wary of efforts to make emerging economies break ranks.
  • (5) The head of the TUC, Frances O'Grady, said she supported the aims of the foundation, but was wary of endorsing changes that allowed retailers to squeeze under the wire without raising the pay of the lowest-paid workers.
  • (6) Yet whatever Jürgen Klinsmann’s understandable wariness about Portugal as a wounded animal, the USA coach might prefer to take his chances against a less-than-100% Ronaldo in the testing, Amazonian conditions in Manaus, no matter how good he is.
  • (7) He is wary of pretension, alive to all shades of irony.
  • (8) I am of a similar vintage and, like many friends and fans of the series, bemoan the fact that we are generally treated by society as silly, weak, daft, soppy, prejudiced (even bigoted), risk-averse and wary of new situations.
  • (9) Tinsley is also wary about believing that the EBacc will make a substantial difference to language learning.
  • (10) Other countries in Africa and indeed all over the world need to look closely at this experiment in Lesotho and be very wary of repeating it."
  • (11) I was told the Guardian had been too negative about Playboy in the past, and that they were also wary after a recent "trashing in the Sunday Times magazine – where Mr Hefner underwent a complete character assassination".
  • (12) The government faces a close-fought referendum on constitutional reforms later this year, on which Renzi’s political fate hinges, and is wary of angering small investors.
  • (13) The dispute has pushed together regional powers who a few years ago might have been as wary of neighbours with claims on the islands as they were of Beijing.
  • (14) Fashion editors and former employees are wary of talking in public about them.
  • (15) Obama and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) got off to a shaky start: the KRG, which mostly benefited from the US invasion of Iraq, was wary of an American president anxious to withdraw and detach from the country.
  • (16) I am wary – very clear – I really wonder where it's all going, all this with Barack.
  • (17) As well as the risk of attrition to the Tories, the Lib Dems will be mindful that traditional Labour voters will be wary of proposed Lib Dem cuts in public spending – an issue that promises to take centre stage at the next election.
  • (18) Hudson says social workers have been wary of media attention because they believe it only focuses on the negative.
  • (19) Mourinho’s pre-match utterances are generally best skimmed for the odd word not specifically dedicated to inflammatory falsehoods, but Chelsea’s manager was correct to offer some wary respect for the Football League’s champion club and here, lining up in a tightly knit 4-4-2, Leicester were sharp in the tackle early on, and pacy on the break throughout.
  • (20) With a few striking exceptions, such as William Dalrymple and Philip Hensher , contemporary writers have become wary of engaging with it in all its complicated, uneasy-making richness.

Wry


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To cover.
  • (superl.) Turned to one side; twisted; distorted; as, a wry mouth.
  • (superl.) Hence, deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place; as, wry words.
  • (superl.) Wrested; perverted.
  • (v. i.) To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind.
  • (v. i.) To deviate from the right way; to go away or astray; to turn side; to swerve.
  • (a.) To twist; to distort; to writhe; to wrest; to vex.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When I commiserate about the overnight flight that brought them here, Linney gives a wry grimace.
  • (2) The image was widely shared online and taken as a wry comment on pictures of Donald Trump’s all-male Oval Office team.
  • (3) Putin could have been forgiven for allowing himself a wry grin, as another court comprehensively trashed Berezovsky's reputation.
  • (4) No wry observations or whoops-a-daisy trombones to subvert the conceit for period lolz.
  • (5) She frequently talks about herself as an object of wry or amused discovery.
  • (6) It was described as the "Twitter revolution" , but almost a year on from Iran's disputed presidential elections, during which the use of social media by the opposition movement made headlines around the world, such claims prompt wry smiles from seasoned observers.
  • (7) Enigmatic and elusive, they may have named themselves after the US video director because they enjoy his work, or it may be a wry comment on something or other.
  • (8) Franzen did seem to have a certain sense of humour about himself, and in person has a wry, awkward charm.
  • (9) Coal plants are the most polluting of all power stations and the World Resources Institute (WRI) identified 1,200 coal plants in planning across 59 countries, with about three-quarters in China and India.
  • (10) The cover art for the Cranberries' Bury the Hatchet (1999) was an evocation of paranoia – a giant eye bearing down on a crouching figure – that did neither band nor artist many favours; his image for Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (2006) amounted to a thin revival of his work for the Floyd that, if you were being generous, suggested a wry comment on that band's unconvincing attempts to revive the excesses of 1970s progressive rock.
  • (11) He was a nice man, unpretentious and with a wry manner.
  • (12) The secretary of state also made a wry comparison between the bipartisan co-operation underpinning the new Afghan government and the polarised state of American domestic politics.
  • (13) But he is courteous, wry, insightful and very much on the left of his party.
  • (14) "I think I know what's to come," Chua says with a wry smile.
  • (15) "I don't think that Plaid Cymru can overturn world capitalism," she says, with a wry smile.
  • (16) "They were very happy," Wazir recalls with a wry smile.
  • (17) We are seeing a shift in the expansion of tree cover loss to a second tier of smaller countries that traditionally get much less attention from environmental groups.” He added: “These countries are recovering from years of civil conflicts that have made them off limits to investors who are now looking for opportunities – it is a new frontier of investments.” The WRI analysis suggests that a rapidly growing palm oil industry is one of the biggest contributors to the change.
  • (18) Guy Shrubsole, at Friends of the Earth, said of the WRI report: "This is a scary number of coal-fired plants being planned.
  • (19) The WRI report also found that, after a slight dip during the economic troubles of 2008, the global coal trade has rebounded and rose by 13% in 2010.
  • (20) But he is far from being a show-off: 'In fact, he comes over as a modest individual with a wry sense of humour', says a colleague.