adjective
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having or covered with prickles
-
stinging or tingling
-
bad-tempered or irritable
-
full of difficulties; knotty
a prickly problem
Other Word Forms
- prickliness noun
- unprickly adjective
Etymology
Origin of prickly
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.
The heart rate elevates, muscles quiver, the skin can feel hot and prickly because of increased blood flow.
From Los Angeles Times
Impressive world building gives a visceral texture to the environment that reflects the prickly emotions by those used, abused and cast off, who then reclaim their power by banding together.
From Salon
The American squatted in the dirt, struggling to free the cantaloupe from its prickly stem, almost toppling over.
From Los Angeles Times
Others put up fences and prickly shrubbery to deter loiterers.
From Los Angeles Times
And now there are circumstances to navigate that are pricklier than the actors’ five o’clock shadows.
From Salon
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.
