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:
To visually take us there, it uses the headline "prickly heat", calling to mind the cacti of Arizona.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
If not for this arch, prickly, but intellectually daring English lord, would Paine have summoned the resources to produce “Common Sense”?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Now they’re happy to make her the early leader in the 2026 race for drama lead actress as the prickly but sympathetic Carol in “Pluribus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
If we’re lucky, this week’s summit in Beijing won’t produce any shocking headlines on Iran, Taiwan, or any of the other prickly issues that divide the U.S. and China.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
My parents said that I was born with a sharp cry and a personality as prickly as an African hedgehog.
From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince
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
It also put a spotlight on a global trade and obsession — think of Susan Orlean‘s “The Orchid Thief” on a worldwide scale, and with a pricklier quarry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
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
Hans-Georg Maassen, the rebellious spy, has powerful friends, among them his immediate boss, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian conservatives and one of Ms. Merkel’s pricklier coalition partners.
From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2018
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 Eliot, George
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.
