Wry vs Ironically - What's the difference?
wry | ironically |
Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
* 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17:
* 1913 , , The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park , ch. 11:
Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
* 1871 , , The Haunted Baronet , ch. 6:
Twisted, bent, crooked.
Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
* 1820 , , The Abbot , ch. 34:
* 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,
(obsolete) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
* 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 18:
* , Cymbeline , act 5, sc. 1:
(obsolete) To divert; to cause to turn away.
To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).
(obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
As an adjective wry
is turned away, contorted (of the face or body).As a verb wry
is (obsolete|intransitive) to turn (away); to swerve or deviate or wry can be (obsolete) to cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.As an adverb ironically is
(manner) in an ironic manner, in a way displaying irony.wry
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) wrien, from (etyl) . Compare awry, wriggle.Adjective
(en-adj)- '"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.
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 * awryVerb
- 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.
- 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!