Dictionary

prickly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• audio

Etymology

From prickle + -y.

Meanings

1. 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.
2. (figuratively) Easily irritated; thorny.
   • He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.
3. (figuratively) Difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny.
   • It was a prickly situation.
   • People who are prickly can’t be hurt any more. They’ve had it. So we just have to be prickly to make sure nobody’s going to come in and grab us. 2021 March 27, Simon Hattenstone, quoting Charlotte Rampling, “Charlotte Rampling: ‘I am prickly. People who are prickly can’t be hurt any more’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

prickly poppy · prickly heat · prickly-seeded spinach · prickly hornwort · nonprickly · prickly comfrey · prickly oak · unprickly · prickly pine · prickly shield fern · prickly nightshade · prickly chaff flower · western prickly juniper · prickly glasswort · prickly shark · prickly pear cactus · prickly poison · prickly pear · prickly thrift · prickly sculpin · prickly ash · prickly saltwort · prickly heath · prickly hakea · prickly tang · prickliness · prickly lettuce

Relateds

prick

Synonyms

thorny (covered with sharp points) · spiny (covered with sharp points)

Translations (66)

pt espinhoso (covered with sharp points) · es difícil (difficult, hairy) · mi tuatete (covered with sharp points) · es espinoso (covered with sharp points) · la spinifer (covered with sharp points) · de stachelig (covered with sharp points) · fr irascible (easily irritated) · ro irascibil (easily irritated) · mi tōtara (covered with sharp points) · cs pichlavý (covered with sharp points) · ro supărăcios (easily irritated) · ga colgach (covered with sharp points) · gd droighneach (covered with sharp points) · ro țepos (covered with sharp points) · mi korotiotio (covered with sharp points) · es espinudo (covered with sharp points) · el αγκαθερός (easily irritated) · bg обидчив (easily irritated) · pt irritadiço (easily irritated) · scn gnestu (easily irritated) · ro iritabil (easily irritated) · de kratzbürstig (easily irritated) · de Stachel- (covered with sharp points) · fi ärtyisä (easily irritated) · scn spinatu (covered with sharp points) · de gereizt (easily irritated) · ro spinos (covered with sharp points) · it permaloso (easily irritated) · ca malhumorós (easily irritated) · ga drisíneach (easily irritated) · fr irritable (easily irritated) · el αγκαθερός (covered with sharp points) · de kratzbürstig (difficult, hairy) · fr épineux (covered with sharp points) · grc ἀκάνθινος (covered with sharp points) · es espinoso (difficult, hairy) · mi kōtaratara (covered with sharp points) · sv taggig (easily irritated) · scn siḍḍijatu (easily irritated) · mi pūtiotio (covered with sharp points) · mi tiotio (covered with sharp points) · ru колю́чий (covered with sharp points) · gd deilgneach (covered with sharp points) · mk бодликав (covered with sharp points) · it suscettibile (easily irritated) · es irritable (easily irritated) · de dornig (covered with sharp points) · scn ntricatu (difficult, hairy) · es peliagudo (difficult, hairy) · de reizbar (easily irritated) · ro ghimpos (covered with sharp points) · fi piikikäs (covered with sharp points) · ro dificil (difficult, hairy) · hi कटीला (covered with sharp points) · bg трънлив (covered with sharp points) · de heikel (difficult, hairy) · ga colgach (easily irritated) · ca espinós (covered with sharp points) · sv taggig (covered with sharp points) · scn spinusu (covered with sharp points) · bg бодлив (covered with sharp points) · qu t'uksi (covered with sharp points) · bg щекотлив (difficult, hairy) · es malhumorado (easily irritated) · es con espinas (covered with sharp points) · mi koikoi (covered with sharp points)

prickly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• audio

Etymology

From prickle + -y.

Meanings

1. In a prickly manner.
   • Striding across stage in his bright white jacket, his voice soaring and cracking – like Charlie Parker’s – he was nervous but prickly eloquent, caustic yet encouraging. 2016 March 3, David Thomson, The Guardian:

Forms

prickly en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• audio

Etymology

From prickle + -y.

Meanings

1. (colloquial) Something that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object.
   • Below, way out on the flat, Blue had seen a light green that could be graze but up here was nothing 'cept all kinds of prickly bushes, and too many of them. Ground-spreading pricklies that reached out to jump at a horse's belly […] 2002, William A. Luckey, Long Ride to Nowhere, page 75:
   • Dad, I need to ride on your shoulders because the pricklies hurt my feet. 2016, Richard J. Sklba, Joseph Juknialis, Easter Fire: Fire Starters for the Easter Weekday Homily, page 113:
2. (US) A person who favours formal, structured, organized settings.
   • Alan Watts says that these two types may be named the "prickly" people and the "gooey" people. The pricklies, he says, the Marthas, are tough-minded, rigorous, and precise and like to stress differences and divisions between things. The gooeys, the Marys, are tender-minded romanticists who love wide generalizations and grand syntheses. 1979, Robert C. Wright, “Reminiscing and Romancing in Mid-America: Rumes, Romances, Stories, and Poems”, in Frederick Manfred, Boston, Mass.: Twayne Publishers, G[arrison] K[ent] Hall & Co., →ISBN, page 99:
   • Planned variation was based on systematically applying different educational approaches developed by academic experts, each of whom was to become a "sponsor" of a single type of program – from highly structured classroom models, sometimes called "pricklies," to open classrooms and more exploratory environments, dubbed "gooeys." 1976 February 15, Pamela Moore, “Follow Through—Biggest Social Science Study Ever …”, in Daniel S[heldon] Greenberg, editor, Science & Government Report: The Independent Bulletin of Science Policy, volume IV, number 3, Washington, D.C.: Science & Government Report, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:

Forms

Antonyms

gooey

Deriveds

cold prickly