as in difficult
requiring exceptional skill or caution in performance or handling
this promises to be a spiny problem to negotiate
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spiny
The long arms are made up of spiny plates that fit together like puzzle pieces, photos show.
—
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 June 2025
Sea urchins are small marine invertebrates, characterized by their spiny bodies and found in oceans around the world.
—Isabelle Rodney, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
Generally, deer don’t prefer plants that are fuzzy, highly aromatic, spiny, or spiky.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 7 June 2025
Binh’s spiny frogs were found near forest streams between elevations of about 1,000 to 2,500 feet, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for spiny
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 June 2025
Sea urchins are small marine invertebrates, characterized by their spiny bodies and found in oceans around the world.
—Isabelle Rodney, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
Generally, deer don’t prefer plants that are fuzzy, highly aromatic, spiny, or spiky.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 7 June 2025
Binh’s spiny frogs were found near forest streams between elevations of about 1,000 to 2,500 feet, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for spiny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spiny
Adjective
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This deep understanding of local transportation patterns would have been difficult with rapid multi-city expansion.—
Tima Bansal,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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No calendar issue generates more frustration, or is more difficult to solve, than the transfer portal.—
Jon Wilner,
Mercury News,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Even if increasing competition and financial obstruction have influenced summer recruitment, making this season’s challenges tougher, the confidence in Unai Emery and Villa’s football department remains unerring.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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Unlike Trump, they aren’t charmed by the Kremlin’s tough guy.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Federated Learning: This privacy-preserving technique allows AI models to learn from decentralized data across games and platforms without compromising user privacy, enhancing moderation without centralizing sensitive data.—
Anees Ali Khan,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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They are also believed to degrade water quality, which can hurt sensitive organisms like freshwater mussels.—
Madeline Heim,
jsonline.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Can the Cubs feel confident that their relievers will deliver them through a hairy situation when the chips are down?—
Jackson Roberts,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Aug. 2025
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What to know about tarantula mating season and where to see the hairy spiders.—
Lorenzino Estrada,
AZCentral.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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For dried or sticky grease, Marshall suggests switching to dish soap diluted in water and rubbing gently with a soft sponge or microfiber cloth.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
14 Aug. 2025
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Despite skyrocketing prices for TV rights from name-brand sports leagues, even smaller streaming services know their future will be driven in part by that particularly sticky tune-in driver for audiences.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Even if, again, the episode skips over the thorny question of how exactly this group of schmoes managed to cage a pure killing machine.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
5 Aug. 2025
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Such partnerships raise a host of thorny questions, says Michalak, who has worked with private companies, nonprofit groups, universities and the federal government on greenhouse gas monitoring satellite projects.—
Rebecca Hersher,
NPR,
4 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Federal courts in different circuits reaching conflicting interpretations of law has problematic implications that sometimes attract the attention, and willingness, of the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
3 Aug. 2025
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Bitcoin was founded on the idea of peer-to-peer networks versus the traditional financial model, where a few people or organizations hold all of the power—a model that has been shown (by every financial crisis) to be enormously problematic.—
Gracy Chen,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The Code Talkers developed an extensive and complicated code based on their own language, which substituted key military and geographical terms for related images.—
Rob Picheta,
CNN Money,
14 Aug. 2025
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In interviews with more than 30 lawmakers, political figures, supporters, friends, and critics, Mamdani emerges as both more interesting and more complicated than the caricatures suggest.—
Mark Chiusano,
Time,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spiny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spiny. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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