Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use warily in a sentence

16 example sentences · adverb

Warily means in a careful and guarded manner, especially to avoid potential danger or harm. Example: “She walked through the dark alley, warily glancing around to make sure she wasn't being followed.”

Examples of warily by meaning

adverbIn a careful and guarded manner, especially to avoid potential danger or harm.

  • She walked through the dark alley, warily glancing around to make sure she wasn't being followed.

adverbWithout trust; in a manner showing a lack of trust.

  • He listened to the salesman's pitch warily, sensing a potential scam.
  • East and West still eye each other warily across the sea, but the Cold War has begun to melt.1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 605
  • The new king is viewed warily by Bangkok's elites, who have sometimes worried that he sympathises with populist politicians whom the army has twice kicked from power.2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist

More sentences with warily

  • Regarding us warily, the creature turned its rhinocerotic head in our direction.From the entry rhinocerotic
  • Regarding us warily, the creature turned its rhinocerine head in our direction.From the entry rhinocerine
  • “Why do I get the feeling that ‘we’ includes me?” I said warily.2021, Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide, Kensington Books, →ISBN. From the entry Mrs. Claus
  • We warily sipped the lemonade, knowingly flirting with the tourist stomach disorder known here as Moctezuma's revenge.2010, George Ann Huck, Jann E. Freed, Women of Yucatán: Thirty Who Dare to Change Their World, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company…. From the entry Montezuma's revenge
  • Which of you speaks German?” The prisoners looked warily at each other.2010, Michael J. Goodspeed, Our Only Shield: A Novel of the Second World War, page 143. From the entry raise one's hand
  • So we shoulder our daypacks and trudge warily along the muddy rivercourse towards the tumbling snarl of the Kapichira Falls.2008, Jacques Marais, “Trekking, Hiking and Backpacking: Boot Camp”, in Great African Adventures: A Guide to the Mother Continent’s…. From the entry rivercourse
  • The Sara frantically respotted fighters for launch, even while Fletcher and Kinkaid warily tracked the suspected enemy group circling to the southwest.2013, John Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, →ISBN. From the entry respot
  • Bare-chested children and their parents gathered in doorways, on roofs and in windows as he passed, watched warily by Brazilian troops carrying submachine guns.2007 March 9, Jim Rutenberg, Larry Rohter, “Bush’s South America Tour Incites Fight for Attention”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry submachine gun
  • A few hundred yards across the pampa from where Chilean soldiers patrol the boundary, stern-faced, the Peruvian border police sit under wind-torn blue awnings, eyeing the Chileans warily.2026 May 23, John Bartlett, “Chile's MAGA-inspired border control”, in National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio. From the entry awning
  • He dealt warily with traders, whom he classified in three groups: "'He cheat a litty" — "He cheat plenty" — and "I think he cheat too much.'"2003, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson (edited by Roslyn Jolly), The Cruise of the Janet Nichol Among the South Sea Islands, →ISBN, page 28. From the entry litty
  • I roused Zero’s suspicions because I began to behave too much like a woman and he started to watch me warily for signs of the tribade.1977, Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve. From the entry tribade
  • Enderby watched her warily as she lay prone, having kicked the clothes off the bed, her nates silvered by the Roman moonlight to the likeness of a meringue.1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby. From the entry nates

Meaning of warily

  1. adverb In a careful and guarded manner, especially to avoid potential danger or harm.
  2. adverb Without trust; in a manner showing a lack of trust.

Full definition of warily

Questions about warily in a sentence

How do you use warily in a sentence?
Warily is used as an adverb. For example: “She walked through the dark alley, warily glancing around to make sure she wasn't being followed.”
What is a short sentence with warily?
“He listened to the salesman's pitch warily, sensing a potential scam.”
What does warily mean?
Warily means in a careful and guarded manner, especially to avoid potential danger or harm.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: warily (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use warily in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/warily. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.