How to Use prickly in a Sentence

prickly

adjective
Definition of pricklynext
Synonyms for pricklynext
  • The plant's leaves are prickly.
  • What can the rest of us learn from the prickly people in the world?
    — Suzy Exposito, Vogue, 26 Mar. 2024
  • The raw meat, the subtle fat, the prickly acidities of the sauce, the pure flavor.
    — Bill Buford, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2020
  • And although Ames forges the story’s premise, prickly, funny Reese is the star of the show.
    — Crispin Long, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2021
  • Spruce needles also can be stiff and prickly to the touch.
    — Sheryl Devore, chicagotribune.com, 24 Dec. 2020
  • Look, read the labels, mull over the prickly unanswered questions many of the pieces leave you with.
    — New York Times, 10 Feb. 2022
  • Gin: The gin’s role here is to add some prickly juniper on the finish, so get one that has a lot of that.
    — Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 24 June 2023
  • My hair stood on end, and prickly sweat savaged my cheeks.
    — Erik Hedegaard, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2021
  • That is, Pages stacked the deck in favour of the quirky, the prickly, the heroically uncommercial.
    — Jason Guriel, Longreads, 10 Nov. 2022
  • Big yellow orbs still cling to a prickly maze of vines that has mostly died.
    — Tess Taylor, CNN, 30 Oct. 2021
  • Rocks, a sparse clumping of tall grass, prickly things like cacti, and Joshua Trees as far as the eye can see.
    — Allyson Portee, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2023
  • Electric blues, reds and purples of prickly urchins, sea stars and an anemones.
    — Outside Online, 26 June 2024
  • But Joe is a relief — funny, prickly, human — and the film could use more of him.
    — Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2020
  • Days later, hair would appear in his armpits again, tiny and prickly, like the heads of toothpicks in a jar.
    — Hurmat Kazmi, The Atlantic, 23 Nov. 2021
  • Stop at the Cholla Cactus Garden and walk along its paths, but don't get too close to the prickly plants.
    — Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Now 2 weeks old, zoo staff said the prickly little one is doing well.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2022
  • High will demonstrate how to care for, gather and cook prickly pears.
    — Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2021
  • Then in 2016, in a show of deference to the prickly Persians, Xi went to Tehran to cement the alliance.
    — Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
  • This has made the business of documenting the singer’s life a prickly one.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2021
  • This prickly beast is not a plant for hot, humid regions.
    — Washington Post, 23 June 2021
  • Mari's own sense of guilt was what fueled a lot of what people perceived as prickly in her.
    — Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 16 Mar. 2020
  • Here are some of the prettiest flowers peeking out from the prickly spines this spring.
    — Sunset Staff, Sunset Magazine, 31 Mar. 2020
  • Rose stored over the winter can be prickly — sorry — to get going again.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The hills are covered in creosote and mesquite, the gullies are full of sage, and there are lots of prickly pears and saw palmetto.
    — Seth Harp, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2021
  • But the driver is a prickly pill who won’t even call his sister by her rechristened nun name.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Those costs and the low rate of approval have always been prickly pears for investing in biotech.
    — Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 14 June 2021
  • Relations are prickly in the lead-up to the meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
    — Robyn Dixon, latimes.com, 24 June 2019
  • The prickly stems of burgundy-red roses wrapped in dark leaves and plastic bristled in his arms.
    — Melissa Fay Greene, The Atlantic, 18 June 2020
  • Flying enemies will swoop down and are immune to ground attacks, while spiky foes are prickly to the touch.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 10 Oct. 2024
  • Many Democrats likely fear incurring the wrath of Biden, who is notoriously prickly about his age.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, TIME, 29 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prickly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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