thorny


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thorn·y

 (thôr′nē)
adj. thorn·i·er, thorn·i·est
1. Having many thorns or abounding in thorn-covered vegetation: thorny shrubs; a thorny landscape.
2. Spiny or prickly.
3. Controversial, problematic, or vexatious: avoided discussing thorny issues during the meeting.

thorn′i·ly adv.
thorn′i·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

thorny

(ˈθɔːnɪ)
adj, thornier or thorniest
1. (Botany) bearing or covered with thorns
2. difficult or unpleasant: a thorny problem.
3. sharp
ˈthornily adv
ˈthorniness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

thorn•y

(ˈθɔr ni)

adj. i•er, i•est.
1. full of or characterized by thorns; prickly.
2. thornlike.
3. painful; vexatious: a thorny predicament.
4. full of difficulties, complexities, or controversial points: a thorny question.
[before 1000]
thorn′i•ly, adv.
thorn′i•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.thorny - bristling with perplexities; "the thorny question of states' rights"
difficult, hard - not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"
2.thorny - having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.thorny - 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"
armed - (used of plants and animals) furnished with bristles and thorns
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

thorny

adjective
1. prickly, spiky, spiny, pointed, sharp, barbed, bristly, spinous, bristling with thorns thorny hawthorn trees
2. troublesome, difficult, problematic(al), trying, hard, worrying, tough, upsetting, awkward, unpleasant, sticky (informal), harassing, irksome, ticklish, vexatious the thorny issue of immigration policy
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

thorny

adjective
1. Full of sharp needlelike protuberances:
2. So replete with interlocking points and complications as to be painfully irritating:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
شائِكصَعْب، عَويص، شائِك
palčivýtrnitý
vanskelig
erfiîuròyrnóttur
pálčivýtŕni tý
belâlıdikenligüçlüklerle dolu

thorny

[ˈθɔːnɪ] ADJ (thornier (compar) (thorniest (superl))) (lit, fig) → espinoso
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

thorny

[ˈθɔːrni] adj
[plant, tree] → épineux/euse
[problem, issue] → épineux/euse
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

thorny

adj (+er) (lit)dornig, dornenreich; (fig)haarig
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

thorny

[ˈθɔːnɪ] adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl))) → irto/a di spine (fig) (tricky) → spinoso/a, scabroso/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

thorn

(θoːn) noun
a hard, sharp point sticking out from the stem of certain plants. She pricked her finger on a thorn.
ˈthorny adjective
1. full of or covered with thorns. a thorny branch.
2. difficult, causing trouble etc. a thorny problem.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
The common purple, on a low and very thorny bush; a yellow kind, of an excellent flavor, growing on a stock free from thorns; and a deep purple, of the size and taste of our winter grape, with a thorny stalk.
There sat the thorny Sorcerer in his chair of state, and when the Wizard saw him he began to laugh, uttering comical little chuckles.
Sometimes he had to stumble along the bed of the stream, and sometimes he had to push through shrubs, dense and thorny; often he was obliged to climb over rocks in order to avoid the hornet-nests that hung on the trees over his head.
All these things we collected together in the clearing, and as a first precaution, we cut down with our hatchet and knives a number of thorny bushes, which we piled round in a circle some fifteen yards in diameter.
I remember a growth of thorny plants, with spines that stabbed like pen-knives.
And thorny crown of this sad conception was that she whom he really did prefer in a cursory way to the rest, she who knew herself to be more impassioned in nature, cleverer, more beautiful than they, was in the eyes of propriety far less worthy of him than the homelier ones whom he ignored.
Below them, the roads, intersected by "nullahs," a sort of instantaneous torrent, were soon rendered impracticable, entangled as they were, besides, with thorny thickets and gigantic lianas, or creeping vines.
Then, with a sudden brave toss of her head, she attacked the thorny boma wall with her delicate hands.
There were rosy bleeding-hearts and great splendid crimson peonies; white, fragrant narcissi and thorny, sweet Scotch roses; pink and blue and white columbines and lilac-tinted Bouncing Bets; clumps of southernwood and ribbon grass and mint; purple Adam-and-Eve, daffodils, and masses of sweet clover white with its delicate, fragrant, feathery sprays; scarlet lightning that shot its fiery lances over prim white musk-flowers; a garden it was where sunshine lingered and bees hummed, and winds, beguiled into loitering, purred and rustled.
They had entered the thorny wilderness, and the golden gates of their childhood had forever closed behind them.
The front yard was enclosed by a thorny locust hedge, and at the gate grew two silvery, mothlike trees of the mimosa family.
The tree itself is low, much branched, and thorny: just above the root it has a diameter of about three feet.