Word of the Day Archive
Saturday August 29, 2009
chary \CHAIR-ee\
, adjective:
1. Wary; cautious.
2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.
What do you suppose the Founding Fathers, so chary of overweening government power, would make of a prosecutor with virtually unlimited reach and a staff the size of a small town?
-- "U.S. trampling rights at home and abroad", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 17, 1998
Investors should be chary, however, for the returns are far from sizzling.
-- "The Stampede Into Variable Annuities", Fortune, October 13, 1986
Bankers, consulted as to whether or not they believed that the full force of the decline had spent its fury, were chary of predictions.
-- "Leaders See Fear Waning", New York Times, October 30, 1929
Chary comes from Old English cearig, "careful, sorrowful," from cearu, "grief, sorrow, care."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for chary