adjective
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having or covered with prickles
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stinging or tingling
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bad-tempered or irritable
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full of difficulties; knotty
a prickly problem
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of prickly
Explanation
Prickly things are sharp and spiky, while prickly people are quick to be offended or irritated. Ouch! A prickly tag in the collar of your new shirt can make you uncomfortable all day, and so can a prickly co-worker whose feelings seem to get hurt by everything you say. Porcupines and cactuses are prickly, and so is the next-door neighbor who is constantly irritated with you. The first thing that was described as prickly, in the 1570s, was a holly leaf.
Vocabulary lists containing prickly
"American Names"
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"Terrible Things"
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Spelling Practice, Unit 5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This is where the film becomes its most prickly.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Its 2020 debut album, “PDE,” experimented more with the prickly, sad sierreño sound popularized by acts like Eslabon Armado and DannyLux — as well as trap-infused corridos tumbados with a thumping tololoche.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Such attitudes have been ridiculed in the U.S. press, and prickly French politicians are now upset we noticed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
As an artist, Sattouf relishes dark absurdity; as a character, Riad is irresistible even when he’s prickly and judgmental, which is often.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
Sara shows me the cutest little baby green pumpkins growing on a prickly vine.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
The characters were pricklier and more restless than I remembered, and Alcott’s voice—good-natured but chiding, unsentimental—was a revelation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Seuss’ Grinch sits somewhere in the middle — cuddlier than Krampus and pricklier than Santa — making him the perfect avatar for a moody, uncertain age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025
Few franchises' fans are pricklier about canon than Trekkers unless the contradictions or violations in question occur on a show deemed nearly beyond reproach — like "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
His new, pricklier show deconstructs that persona, telling the audience right from the start how he ingratiates himself, before asking them how they want their takes delivered.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
Things have been pricklier with Edna since she got in trouble, but I’m trying my best to ignore it and move on.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
At its prickliest, this is a film about the ways social niceties can mask deep distrust and dark pasts — which still have a way of surfacing eventually.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
But the prickliest part of their schedule still lay ahead.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023
Defence and security is among the prickliest topics in the continuing debate over Scottish independence and would likely be a defining issue in any future referendum campaign.
From BBC ● May 18, 2022
Berhe did not receive the prickliest questions from the committee.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 3, 2021
Maggie was frowning, and twisting her shoulders, that she might, if possible, shrink away from the prickliest of tuckers; while her mother was saying, "Don't, Maggie, my dear—don't look so ugly!"
From Tom and Maggie Tulliver by George Eliot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
