Dictionary

cactusy en · ADJ

Etymology

From cactus + -y.

Meanings

1. (informal) Cactuslike, prickly.
   • The spines on aloe vera look cactusy, but they are really faux spines and not likely to prick you at all. 2004, Mariella Ienna, Flowers at home, page 162:
   • My chest feels cactusy.
2. Featuring a cactus or cacti.
   • This perfectly charming little hideaway winds back between cactusy hills and is currently so deserted that you will see more goats and birds than people. 1993, Chris Doyle, The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands, 3rd edition, Dunedin, Fla.: Cruising Guide Publications, Inc., →ISBN, page 239, column 1:
   • Of all the God-forsaken, sandy, cactusy desert regions, my habitat takes the cake. 1935 July, “Secrets of Success”, in Popular Science, volume 127, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Co., Inc., page 98, column 2:
   • I spent the close of the 1970s presiding over the marriages of just about every dog to every other dog in the cactusy desert north of Tucson. 2007, Alysia Gray Painter, “Do You Take This Norwegian Elkhound?”, in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 196:

Forms

Synonyms

cactused