wry
/ɹaɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.86 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
adj
Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic, usually in a way that suggests acknowledgement of a problem or difficult situation.
adj
Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
noun
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."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *wreyḱ-, wrien, wrīġian, *wrigōną, wryen, wrēon