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:
"He knows quite a lot of the plants and when he had a friend round a little while ago, he did a danger tour of all the poisonous or spiky plants," Gemma said.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The researchers compare the shape to the spiky burrs that cling stubbornly to shoes and clothing outdoors.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
“SNL” is no stranger to spiky sketch comedy takes on motherhood: remember “Mom Jeans?”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026
The sauce should feel awake — not spiky, not sour — just balanced enough that the richness doesn’t linger too long.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
Giant arms of spiky green protrude into the sky.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
So much of his spikier music deserves attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
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
Act 2, “Visitor From Hollywood,” is a spikier, shorter segue into satire.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2022
At Edgbaston on Thursday the sledging is bound to have a spikier edge.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 2019
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
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.
