barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setose, setaceous, spiny, thorny
(adjective) having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.; “a horse with a short bristly mane”; “bristly shrubs”; “burred fruits”; “setaceous whiskers”
bristly, prickly, splenetic, waspish
(adjective) very irritable; “bristly exchanges between the White House and the press”; “he became prickly and spiteful”; “witty and waspish about his colleagues”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
prickly (comparative pricklier, superlative prickliest)
Covered with sharp points.
Easily irritated.
Difficult; complicated; (figuratively) hairy or thorny.
• (covered with sharp points): thorny, spiny
prickly (comparative more prickly, superlative most prickly)
In a prickly manner.
prickly (plural pricklies)
(colloquial) Something that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object.
Source: Wiktionary
Prick"ly, a.
Definition: Full of sharp points or prickles; armed or covered with prickles; as, a prickly shrub. Prickly ash (Bot.), a prickly shrub (Xanthoxylum Americanum) with yellowish flowers appearing with the leaves. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic. The southern species is X. Carolinianum. Gray.
– Prickly heat (Med.), a noncontagious cutaneous eruption of red pimples, attended with intense itching and tingling of the parts affected. It is due to inflammation of the sweat glands, and is often brought on by overheating the skin in hot weather.
– Prickly pear (Bot.), a name given to several plants of the cactaceous genus Opuntia, American plants consisting of fleshy, leafless, usually flattened, and often prickly joints inserted upon each other. The sessile flowers have many petals and numerous stamens. The edible fruit is a large pear-shaped berry containing many flattish seeds. The common species of the Northern Atlantic States is Opuntia vulgaris. In the South and West are many others, and in tropical America more than a hundred more. O. vulgaris, O. Ficus-Indica, and O. Tuna are abundantly introduced in the Mediterranean region, and O. Dillenii has become common in India.
– Prickly pole (Bot.), a West Indian palm (Bactris Plumierana), the slender trunk of which bears many rings of long black prickles.
– Prickly withe (Bot.), a West Indian cactaceous plant (Cereus triangularis) having prickly, slender, climbing, triangular stems.
– Prickly rat (Zoöl.), any one of several species of South American burrowing rodents belonging to Ctenomys and allied genera. The hair is usually intermingled with sharp spines.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
12 April 2025
(adjective) (used of eyes) lacking liveliness; “empty eyes”; “a glassy stare”; “his eyes were glazed over with boredom”
International Coffee Day (September 29) is an occasion to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events occurring in places across the world. A day to promote fair trade coffee and raise awareness for the coffee growers’ plight. Other countries celebrate this event on October 1.
