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Awry vs Wry - What's the difference?

awry | wry | Derived terms |

Wry is a derived term of awry.



As adjectives the difference between awry and wry

is that awry is turned or twisted toward one side; crooked, distorted, out of place while wry is turned away, contorted (of the face or body).

As an adverb awry

is obliquely, crookedly; askew.

As a verb wry is

to turn (away); to swerve or deviate.

awry

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • Obliquely, crookedly; askew.
  • Perversely, improperly.

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Turned or twisted toward one side; crooked, distorted, out of place.
    • The frame was awry .
  • Wrong or distorted; perverse, amiss.
    • There is something awry with this story.

    Usage notes

    * As an adjective, awry is almost always used as a predicate adjective.

    Synonyms

    * (misaligned) wonky (mostly UK)

    Quotations

    * (English Citations of "awry")

    Anagrams

    * *

    wry

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) wrien, from (etyl) . Compare awry, wriggle.

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
  • * 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17:
    • '"Why, you snivelling, wry -faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.
  • * 1913 , , The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park , ch. 11:
    • “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.
  • Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
  • * 1871 , , The Haunted Baronet , ch. 6:
    • "[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."
  • Twisted, bent, crooked.
  • Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
  • * 1820 , , The Abbot , ch. 34:
    • Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.
  • * 1876 , , The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor , vol. IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel, p. 155 (Google preview):
    • . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.
    Derived terms
    * wryly * awry

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
  • * 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 18:
    • 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.
  • * , Cymbeline , act 5, sc. 1:
    • 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!
  • (obsolete) To divert; to cause to turn away.
  • To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.