Wry
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Distortion. regional
- 1 To turn (away); to swerve or deviate. intransitive, obsolete
"God pricketh them of his great goodness still. And the grief of this great pang pincheth them at the heart, and of wickedness they wry away."
- 2 To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide. obsolete, transitive
- 3 To divert; to cause to turn away. obsolete, transitive
- 4 To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.). transitive
- 1 Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
"'"Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs."
- 2 Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
""[T]he master says a wry word now and then; and so ye let your spirits go down, don't ye see, and all sorts o' fancies comes into your head.""
- 3 Twisted, bent, crooked.
- 4 Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
"Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work."
- 1 humorously sarcastic or mocking wordnet
- 2 bent to one side wordnet
Example
More examples"Mary looks to you with a wry, respectful smile."
Etymology
From Middle English wrien, from Old English wrīġian (“to go, turn, twist, bend, strive, struggle, press forward, endeavor, venture”), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”). Compare awry, wriggle.
From Middle English wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from Old English wrēon (“to cover, clothe, envelop”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīhan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīhaną (“to wrap, cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”).
Related phrases
More for "wry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.