Synonyms of leery

leery

adjective

variants also leary

as in wary

feeling or showing a lack of trust in someone or something

a leery attitude

She seemed a little leery about the proposal.

They were leery of their neighbors.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• wary
• cautious
• skeptical
• careful
• suspicious
• puzzled
• hesitant
• unsure
• watchful
• doubting
• paranoid
• guarded
• distrustful
• curious
• questioning
• gun-shy
• mistrustful
• incredulous
• show-me
• disbelieving
• cynical
• unbelieving
• negativistic
• unsettled
• suspecting
• paranoidal
• quizzical
• experienced
• uncertain
• critical
• inquisitive
• unconvinced
• worldly
• nosey
• nosy
• knowing
• undecided
• worldly-wise
• sophisticated
• inquiring
• undetermined
• snoopy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• naive
• naïve
• unsophisticated
• confident
• sure
• certain
• green
• positive
• simple
• ingenuous
• innocent
• unknowing
• wide-eyed
• inexperienced
• unworldly
• simpleminded
• impractical
• idealistic
• raw
• childlike
• callow
• careless
• deceived
• trusting
• unsuspecting
• uncritical
• gullible
• credulous
• heedless
• unwary
• unsuspicious
• trustful
• duped
• tricked
• unquestioning
• beguiled
• gulled
• gullable

Examples of leery in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her team also knows that many Democratic leaders are extremely leery about having an open nomination process 3½ months before the Nov. 5 election. —Hans Nichols, Axios, 21 July 2024

Trump, for reasons that do him no credit, wants no further part of Pence and is leery of anyone too much like him. —The Editors, National Review, 3 July 2024

After Lehman’s failure, the Fed was leery of bailing out nonfinancial companies whose stability was marginal to the functioning of the financial system. —Sebastian Mallaby, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2020

When Rodriguez’s bill passed the Assembly earlier this year, 12 members – most of them progressive Democrats who’ve been leery of increasing criminal penalties – didn’t vote. —Calmatters, The Mercury News, 7 June 2024