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as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
she dreaded having to deal with her prickly boss
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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as in difficult
requiring exceptional skill or caution in performance or handling
a prickly issue that will outrage at least one special interest if not handled delicately
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples of prickly in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For decades, Smith existed in our collective imagination as an intimidating grandmother-type who never seemed to suffer fools kindly, yet whose prickly demeanor often belied a sense of warmth and fun.
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David MacK, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2024
A lot of prickly manifesto material about Asian American identity lives in Bee’s portion of the book.
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2024
Henry has an uncanny ability to be stern and soft at the same time, as Jason wears his love and admiration for his young boxer on his sleeve while also pushing her to be the best, and reigning in her more prickly teenage tendencies.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, refinery29.com, 10 Sep. 2024
Mild comedy ensues as Michell settles in: struggling to connect with the unruly boys in his class, doing reluctant double duty as a hopeless rugby coach and forming a prickly bond with his earnest, sarcasm-averse Finnish colleague Michel (Björn Gustafsson).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 11 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for prickly 
David MacK, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2024
A lot of prickly manifesto material about Asian American identity lives in Bee’s portion of the book.
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2024
Henry has an uncanny ability to be stern and soft at the same time, as Jason wears his love and admiration for his young boxer on his sleeve while also pushing her to be the best, and reigning in her more prickly teenage tendencies.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, refinery29.com, 10 Sep. 2024
Mild comedy ensues as Michell settles in: struggling to connect with the unruly boys in his class, doing reluctant double duty as a hopeless rugby coach and forming a prickly bond with his earnest, sarcasm-averse Finnish colleague Michel (Björn Gustafsson).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 11 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for prickly
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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Cite this Entry
“Prickly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prickly. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
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