adjective
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resembling a spike
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having a spike or spikes
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informal ill-tempered
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characterized by violent or aggressive methods
spiky protestors
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of spiky
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:
That version of the tech founder, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, is spiky and motormouthed, eager to climb the Ivy League social ladder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The projects would have helped conserve the imperiled spiky succulents that draw millions of visitors to Joshua Tree each year and play a key role as a linchpin of the Mojave Desert ecosystem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
He was dressed casually in a blue, long-sleeved top, jeans and brown boots, and had his distinctive spiky hair and some facial hair.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Yoshida, the Coike’s creator, writes in an email that he designed the spiky lure two decades ago to resemble a “cluster of small fish,” or what anglers call a “bait ball.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Around it appeared the spiky yellow head and pointed nose of Fflewddur Fflam.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
The spikier “Tongue” is the other rocker, whose arrangement is a blend of syncopated drum breaks, squelching keyboards and drones built on feedback and distortion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
So much of his spikier music deserves attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
I do know it has a "fun mode", for spikier responses - was it messing with me?
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2024
Mulaney’s comedy, however, has become spikier, pricklier, sometimes slower while remaining as funny as ever, like he’s a pitcher who learned to mix up speeds.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
Desdemona’s hair was long and silky, but I’d gotten Jimmy Zizmo’s spikier variety.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
On set or onstage, she will throw herself into the scrappiest, spikiest, ugliest facets of any part, without ego or undue seriousness.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2021
Shirley, director Josephine Decker’s new film about a few months in the life of the writer Shirley Jackson, aims to resemble a Shirley Jackson story of the very spikiest variety.
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2020
But with “Jessica Jones,” which returns March 8 for a second season, she is able to let the spikiest elements of her imagination run amok.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2018
Elegantly observed and hysterically funny, it is Rich's spikiest work to date, sidestepping his usual romantic softness in favour of addressing tensions between Brooklyn's hipster excesses and Herschel's desperate poverty.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 16, 2013
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
