prickly
Covered with sharp points.
Example
“The prickly pear is a cactus; you have to peel it before eating it to remove the spines and the tough skin.”
Other meanings
Easily irritated.
“He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.”
difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny.
“It was a prickly situation.”
Synonyms
- barbed
- bristly
- spiny
- thorny
Related words
- nonprickly
- prickliness
- unprickly
- prickly hakea
- prickly chaff flower
- prickly hornwort
- prickly oak
- prickly pear cactus
- prickly poison
- prickly poppy
- prickly shark
- western prickly juniper
Example sentences
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “prickly” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.