wary

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

WARY, adjective [See Ware and Warn.] Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices and dangers; scrupulous; timorously prudent. Old men are usually more wary than the young. It is incumbent on a general in war to be always wary
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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