prickly
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- spiny, barbed, bristly, thorny
- itchy, crawling, scratchy, sharp, smarting, stinging, tingling

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Related Words: annoying, bothersome

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English Thesaurus: sharp, jagged, spiky, prickly, serrated, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

prick‧ly /ˈprɪkli/ adjective

1. covered with thin sharp points:
a plant with prickly leaves

2. if your skin feels prickly, it stings slightly:
His skin felt painful and prickly.
The base of my neck was prickly with sweat.

3. something that is prickly makes your skin sting slightly:
a prickly woollen sweater

4. informal someone who is prickly gets annoyed or offended easily:
She was prickly and sharp with me.
As she got older, she became more prickly and forgetful.

5. a prickly subject causes a lot of disagreements and difficulties:
We finally turned to the prickly question of who was going to pay.
—prickliness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

sharp having a very thin edge or point that can cut things easily:
a sharp knife
The dog’s teeth were very sharp.
Be careful. That knife’s very sharp.
You’ll need some sharp scissors.
Puppies mean to be playful, but their sharp teeth can give you a nasty bite.
jagged having an irregular edge with a lot of sharp points:
a jagged rock
The floor was covered with jagged pieces of glass.
spiky having a lot of thin sharp points:
a spiky cactus plant
The hedgehog uses its spiky fur for protection.
Some corals are quite smooth, others are sharp and spiky.
prickly covered in a lot of small sharp points – used mainly about plants:
a prickly bush
prickly leaves
The hedge was all prickly.
serrated a serrated edge on a saw or knife has a lot of sharp points on it:
It’s best to use a knife with a serrated edge.
razor-sharp extremely sharp:
The cat had razor-sharp claws.
blunt not sharp – used about tools, weapons, or pencils:
All the kitchen knives were blunt.
a blunt pencil
The woman had been attacked with a blunt instrument.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲