prickly

Yoon’s prickly, unlikable James is the character many will align with, to their chagrin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

This version simmers ripe peaches with honey and whole black peppercorns until the fruit collapses and the syrup turns fragrant, floral and just a little prickly.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Despite a sometimes prickly relationship with Kyiv, President Trump’s administration has been reaching out to Ukraine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

In turn, Nolan has sacrificed Odysseus himself to serve his own needs, scrapping the character’s prickly personality to Trojan-horse a message about how empires collapse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

I glanced at him, wondering if things would still be prickly between us after what had happened with Lewis.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

The characters were pricklier and more restless than I remembered, and Alcott’s voice—good-natured but chiding, unsentimental—was a revelation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

It also put a spotlight on a global trade and obsession — think of Susan Orlean‘s “The Orchid Thief” on a worldwide scale, and with a pricklier quarry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2023

Few franchises' fans are pricklier about canon than Trekkers unless the contradictions or violations in question occur on a show deemed nearly beyond reproach — like "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023

Beyond the flowers, Lewis’s vehement style turns toward pricklier subjects.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 18, 2021

Things have been pricklier with Edna since she got in trouble, but I’m trying my best to ignore it and move on.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

At its prickliest, this is a film about the ways social niceties can mask deep distrust and dark pasts — which still have a way of surfacing eventually.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2023

But the prickliest part of their schedule still lay ahead.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023

Defence and security is among the prickliest topics in the continuing debate over Scottish independence and would likely be a defining issue in any future referendum campaign.

From BBC ● May 18, 2022

Berhe did not receive the prickliest questions from the committee.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 3, 2021

Maggie was frowning, and twisting her shoulders, that she might, if possible, shrink away from the prickliest of tuckers; while her mother was saying, "Don't, Maggie, my dear—don't look so ugly!"

From Tom and Maggie Tulliver by George Eliot