as in bristly
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1
as in bursting
to be copiously supplied
a recent college grad thrilled to be starting a new life in a city bristling with possibilities
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in storming
to express one's anger usually violently
the man bristled at the accusation, and threatened to file a lawsuit
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of bristling
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025
Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 8 Nov. 2025
The Air Force Reserve also flies into hurricanes and has flown numerous missions into Melissa, but those planes are not bristling with the same specialized equipment that the older NOAA aircraft are.
—Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 31 Oct. 2025
Bondi’s response was characteristically bristling and evasive; Whitehouse asked about the money seven times, to no avail.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
As Lorenz Hart — short of stature, fond of drink, bristling with resentment over his professional partner Richard Rodgers’s new success with Oscar Hammerstein on Oklahoma!
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2025
Spicomellus had a back that was probably bristling with sharper spines, along with far larger ones along its outer edges.
—ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2025
With the neighborhood already bristling with all kinds of MLRS, that will no doubt be the case.
—Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
During a standout setpiece at the restaurant — opened after hours for the celebrity couple, to the bristling resentment of the staff — Tony sufficiently ingratiates himself with the Americans that Jack agrees to read Amin’s script.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2025
And as politicians, these Supreme Court Justices are especially bristling, equivocating, and entitled, which doesn’t make for trustworthy narration.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
That gives it a bristling relevance.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025
Verb
The path curls beneath bristling columns and then drops steeply over the side.
—Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 8 Nov. 2025
The Air Force Reserve also flies into hurricanes and has flown numerous missions into Melissa, but those planes are not bristling with the same specialized equipment that the older NOAA aircraft are.
—Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 31 Oct. 2025
Bondi’s response was characteristically bristling and evasive; Whitehouse asked about the money seven times, to no avail.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
As Lorenz Hart — short of stature, fond of drink, bristling with resentment over his professional partner Richard Rodgers’s new success with Oscar Hammerstein on Oklahoma!
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2025
Spicomellus had a back that was probably bristling with sharper spines, along with far larger ones along its outer edges.
—ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2025
With the neighborhood already bristling with all kinds of MLRS, that will no doubt be the case.
—Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
During a standout setpiece at the restaurant — opened after hours for the celebrity couple, to the bristling resentment of the staff — Tony sufficiently ingratiates himself with the Americans that Jack agrees to read Amin’s script.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2025
And as politicians, these Supreme Court Justices are especially bristling, equivocating, and entitled, which doesn’t make for trustworthy narration.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bristling
Adjective
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But that hypothesis, Harland wrote in a bristly 1964 Scientific American article, was not supported by any concrete evidence.—
Laura Poppick
July 22,
Literary Hub,
22 July 2025
-
Step 3: Tidy the Harvest When the garlic is fully cured with papery skins and brittle, brown leaves, brush away any excess soil with your fingers and clip back the bristly roots.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
10 Aug. 2024
Verb
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Flowers bloom all over the city, from fragrant jasmine to hot pink petals bursting from Judas trees.—
Katie Nadworny,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Nov. 2025
-
While images of retinas bursting with color and a dove flapping its wings on an outstretched human hand looped behind them, the two allowed the crowd to grow denser while bobbing along to their rhythms.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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In the predawn hours of October 31, FBI agents descended on the Detroit suburb where the men lived and detonated smoke bombs before storming into their homes.—
Mark Morales,
CNN Money,
5 Nov. 2025
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Stines, 44, was allegedly caught on security video storming into Mullins’ chambers before shooting him in an alleged courthouse ambush that rattled the Appalachian community.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Lead singer Brandon Coleman, as usual, puts forth a commanding, soulful vocal that encapsulates the lyric’s seething exasperation and longing for less division.—
Jessica Nicholson,
Billboard,
6 Oct. 2025
-
After his second impeachment by the House of Representatives in January 2021, there were reports that a seething Trump was not going to pay his personal attorney's legal fees.—
Angel Saunders,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Shaw-naé explains how then-mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is dying to speak with her, how the Venmo CEO invited her to some fancy app meeting, all while Al Roker is buzzing on her phone to give an update on Friday’s upcoming dinner service.—
Mackenzie Cummings-Grady,
Billboard,
5 Nov. 2025
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Best Time to Visit The best times to visit São Paulo are between September and November, when the city is buzzing with events—don’t miss the São Paulo Biennial and the Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix.—
Jade Moyano,
Travel + Leisure,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Another is an anarchist raging against a large corporation.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
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The third model to ever wear a raging bull on its hood, the Miura wasn’t even supposed to exist.—
Will Sabel Courtney,
Robb Report,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Agrawal and her team studied ionic liquids — salts that are liquid at sub-boiling temperatures (below 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or 100 degrees Celsius) — as a potential hospitable environment for life.—
Stefanie Waldek,
Space.com,
13 Aug. 2025
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One idea is that about a million years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled and underwent a phase transition, an event similar to how boiling water turns liquid into gas.—
Yasemin Saplakoglu,
Scientific American,
3 Mar. 2020
Verb
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Swain agreed and boarded the red-eye to Heathrow toting a bulging roller suitcase packed full of financials.—
Shawn Tully,
Fortune,
1 Nov. 2025
-
Suddenly 10 more heads surfaced, every bulging eye on us.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bristling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bristling. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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