prickly.
Covered with sharp points.
Meaning & usage
Covered with sharp points.
The prickly pear is a cactus; you have to peel it before eating it to remove the spines and the tough skin.
Easily irritated; thorny.
He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.
Difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny.
It was a prickly situation.
Where this word comes from
From prickle + -y.
In a prickly manner.
Where this word comes from
From prickle + -y.
Something that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object.
A person who favours formal, structured, organized settings.
Where this word comes from
From prickle + -y.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.