prickly meaning and definition

PRICKLY adjective

Definition of prickly (adjective)

1. very irritable
   • "bristly exchanges between the White House and the press"; "he became prickly and spiteful"; "witty and waspish about his colleagues"
   • synonyms: bristly, splenetic, waspish
2. having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
   • "a horse with a short bristly mane"; "bristly shrubs"; "burred fruits"; "setaceous whiskers"
   • synonyms: barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, setaceous, setose, spiny, thorny