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It was sorrow that bred the caution of chary. In Middle English chary meant "sorrowful," a sense that harks back to the word's Old English ancestor caru (an early form of care, and another term that originally meant "sorrow" or "grief"). In a sense switch that demonstrates that love can be both bitter and sweet, chary later came to mean "dear" or "cherished." That's how 16th-century English dramatist George Peele used it: "the chariest and the choicest queen, That ever did delight my royal eyes." Both sorrow and affection have largely faded from chary, however, and in Modern English the word is most often used as a synonym of either careful or sparing.
Synonyms
Examples of chary in a Sentence
The Economist, 13 Mar. 2021
He’s not as guarded or chary as he was immersed in the Boston Baseball Experience, where one wrong step or word can spark furor.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2022
Knox was a bit chary on specifics, but no athlete allows that many injections without asking questions.
—Richard A. Lovett, Outside Online, 1 Sep. 2021
Beautiful is a strong word, and artists, critics and scholars are chary of it.
—Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2021
With a writer so chary of detail, the reader rushes to fill in.
—Caleb Crain, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2021
That tone is most obvious in the author’s chary regard of his icon.
—John Semley, The New Republic, 26 May 2021
Evangelical Christians, traditionally chary of getting involved in partisan politics.
—Rick Perlstein, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2020
The autocratic Chinese government is also chary of any display of mass mobilization, even benign ones like Pride.
—Charlie Campbell / Shanghai, Time, 15 June 2018
Dictionary Entries Near chary
Cite this Entry
“Chary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chary. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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chary
adjective
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