barbed

[bahrbd]

adjective

1. having barbs.

2. calculated to wound; cutting.

   a professor noted for his barbed criticisms.

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbed¹

First recorded in 1520–30; barb ¹ + -ed ³

Example Sentences

If I look closely, I can see tiny red thorns pointing out from the surface—like a wall of botanical barbed wire.

Read more on Literature

Xue's post has since been taken down - but the dust from the barbed exchanges hasn't settled yet.

Read more on BBC

The split from Alejandro seems to inspire the record's most barbed lyric.

Read more on BBC

Seidel saw a man in the West, with tears in his eyes, staring through barbed wire at a two-year-old boy holding the hand of an old woman in the East.

Read more on Literature

The star of The Traitors Series 3, who was eliminated on episode two, previously told the BBC that the pain she suffered was comparable to that of "barbed wire around her stomach".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• biting 
• pointed 
• stinging www.thesaurus.com