Meaning & use
prickly
Last updated
Covered with small thorns or spines; or, describing a person, easily irritated or quick to take offense.
See it in a sentence
The prickly cactus made it hard to find a place to sit down.
He's a bit prickly in the mornings before he's had his coffee.
A note on using this word
The figurative sense (describing a person's temperament) is extremely common in everyday speech, often more so than the literal, botanical meaning.
Words with a similar meaning
thornytouchy
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prickly”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.