wry means turned away, contorted (of the face or body). It carries an Arena rating of 1714, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, wry ranks #8 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #993 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,798 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,405 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
wry is pronounced /ɹaɪ/.
Why “wry” is a great word
Characterized by a dry, ironic, or sardonic humor, often acknowledging a difficult or incongruous situation. From Middle English wrien, from Old English wrīġian ("to go, turn, twist, bend"), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną ("to wriggle"), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- ("to turn, wrap, tie"), with the figurative sense of humor attested from the 16th century. Unlike sarcastic, which implies a sharper, more cutting intent to wound, or crooked, which merely describes a physical deviation, wry suggests a contortion of perception—a resigned and subtly amused tilt of the spirit. It is the half-smile of someone watching their umbrella turn inside out in a sudden gale, the raised eyebrow at a funeral when the deceased’s favorite song proves unexpectedly jaunty, or the muttered "of course" as the last train departs—humor not as attack, but as a bent branch springing back, briefly, into grace.
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.
adj
- Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).e.g.“'"Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.” — 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
- Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic, usually in a way that suggests acknowledgement of a problem or difficult situation.e.g.“"[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."” — 1871, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, “chapter 6”, in The Haunted Baronet:
- Twisted, bent, crooked.
- Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.e.g.“Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.” — 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXIV, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and
verb
- To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.e.g.“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.” — 1535, Thomas More, chapter 18, in Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation:
- To divert; to cause to turn away.
- To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.).
- To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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