as in pokes
to cause or experience an unpleasant feeling that is like the feeling of having many small, sharp points against your skin
The burrs were prickling my arm. The wool sweater prickled my skin.
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Recent Examples of prickles
Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
Verb
An awareness of absent ancestors prickles through her writing, but at the same time, her fictional worlds feel solid and present.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prickles
Verb
-
Kym is the family fuckup and a guilty party to its biggest tragedy but also constantly pokes the bear as its selfish verbal assassin.—
Chris Feil,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
-
Instead, the robot simply pokes through it.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The team identified a continuous midline feature that began as a fleshy crest along the neck and trunk and transitioned over the hips into a single row of spikes running down the tail — each spike positioned over a single vertebra and fitted to each other.—
Abhishek Bhardwaj,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Lockwood’s music instills joy in listening, and such revitalized desire leaves your body freshly tender, sensitive to whatever pierces the ear.—
Joshua Minsoo Kim,
Pitchfork,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Its 1959 Googie-style sign pierces the sky, a beacon of hope for weary road-trippers cruising this achingly lonely stretch of highway.—
Zoey Goto,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The camaraderie expressed Thursday was a far cry from the barbs the two officials exchanged just more than a year ago, when Clark, at City Council hearing, blasted Tisch over the NYPD’s crackdown on the homeless and those accused of misdemeanor crimes.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Musk’s lawsuit against Altman is the culmination of a yearslong feud that has sometimes led the two former associates to trade public barbs online.—
Shanshan Dong,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The Calambokidis plan quickly hit some snags.—
Robin Romm,
The Atlantic,
2 May 2026
-
Boeing’s efforts to keep up kept hitting development snags including its first uncrewed test flight, which missed its rendezvous with the space station entirely in 2019.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 May 2026
Verb
-
And Jaden McDaniels was right, which stings even more.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
1 May 2026
-
Nothing stings more than seeing a shipping fee tacked on top of an order that was already a splurge.—
Hannah Chubb,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The flight attendants then attempted to solve the problem by shoving napkins inside the ceiling holes.—
Colson Thayer,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
-
Mirroring the 3-star wig cap structure, this wig featured three combs (left-side, right-side, nape), a drawstring, wig band insertion holes, and a 13×4 lace.—
Noel Cymone Walker,
StyleCaster,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Prickles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prickles. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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