Wry

/ɹaɪ/ · adjective

Meaning

Turned away, contorted (of the face or body)..

Definitions by Sense

1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
4. Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
5. (obsolete, intransitive) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To divert; to cause to turn away.
7. (transitive) To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.).
8. (regional) Distortion.

Example Sentences

'"Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.

“Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.

"[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."

Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.

. . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.

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.

You married ones, If each of you should take this course, how many Must murder wives much better than themselves For wrying but a little!

Synonyms for wry

Antonyms for wry

Related Words

Word Forms

• wrier
• wryer
• wriest
• wryest
• wries
• wrying
• wried

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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