thorny
Americanadjective
-
thornier,
comparative
-
thorniest
superlative
adjective
-
bearing or covered with thorns
-
difficult or unpleasant
a thorny problem
-
sharp
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of thorny
before 1000; Middle English; Old English thornig. See thorn, -y 1
Explanation
Thorny things are either sharp and spiky, like a thorny briar patch, or troublesome and difficult, like a thorny problem. Either way, they can be painful! When you tackle a thorny rosebush, you'll need thick gloves and sharp pruning shears. When you tackle a thorny issue at work or at school, on the other hand, you might need tools like diplomacy and intelligence. This figurative meaning of thorny is useful for describing especially complex or distressing issues, like a thorny political problem that divides a nation.
Vocabulary lists containing thorny
All The Feels: Touching Words For Textures
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 5
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Part 2 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
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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:
Brandtech landed on the idea that White & Case is good at solving thorny, cross-border, cross-sector issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
It’s a thorny thicket that can keep us stagnant at the pivotal moments requiring the most courage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Business owners face a thorny question: Are high energy costs a temporary nuisance, or an entrenched reality that calls for price hikes right now?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The professor spends "a lot of time" in her class exploring Parton's politics - or "Dollitics", a phrase coined by the singer's nephew to describe her way of handling thorny subjects.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
They go along their own pathways, moving easily through thick tangles of thorny undergrowth.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
“That would leave the thornier issues around tech rivalry, transshipments and Taiwan unresolved.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Then it was back to even thornier negotiations in Russia–Ukraine, and Iran.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
The negotiations are aimed at securing a minimal memorandum of understanding that would end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz while setting the stage for later talks on thornier issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
But if much of “Wasteman” follows an expected trajectory, the film’s conception of Taylor proves thornier than anticipated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
The entrance, from the ground to the height of twelve feet, was walled up with a mass of thorny branches, interwoven with yet thornier creepers.
From Into the Primitive by Robert Ames Bennett
It defers the thorniest issues to future negotiations.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
The chapter on fisheries, expected to be the thorniest as Iceland is intent on retaining control over its resources, had not been opened.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
Unions say the measure would give them needed leverage and remove political pressure from the thorniest contract questions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Check outthe Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 14, 2026
The Reagan had run afoul of nuclear power’s thorniest problem: radioactive isotopes.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
