warily

comparative more warily · superlative most warily

1. In a careful and guarded manner, especially to avoid potential danger or harm.

   She walked through the dark alley, warily glancing around to make sure she wasn't being followed.

   1 more example

   That her little Tarzan could destroy a great bull gorilla she knew to be improbable, and so, as she neared the spot from which the sounds of the struggle had come, she moved more warily and at last slowly and with extreme caution she traversed the lowest branches, peering eagerly into the moon- splashed blackness for a sign of the combatants.

   1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 6, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC

   Synonyms: cautiously, vigilantly, carefully, prudently

2. Without trust; in a manner showing a lack of trust.

   He listened to the salesman's pitch warily, sensing a potential scam.

   2 more examples

   East and West still eye each other warily across the sea, but the Cold War has begun to melt.

   1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 605

   The new king is viewed warily by Bangkok's elites, who have sometimes worried that he sympathises with populist politicians whom the army has twice kicked from power.

   2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist

   Synonyms: suspiciously, distrustfully, skeptically