prickly

As an artist, Sattouf relishes dark absurdity; as a character, Riad is irresistible even when he’s prickly and judgmental, which is often.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

To visually take us there, it uses the headline "prickly heat", calling to mind the cacti of Arizona.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

She has a piece with prickly pear cactus as well as datura in it, which is crazy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

If not for this arch, prickly, but intellectually daring English lord, would Paine have summoned the resources to produce “Common Sense”?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Little prickly firs grow out of every crevice and yellow vines with thorns wrapping themselves around the firs’ trunks and you can see and hear yellow razor lizards hissing at us as we pass.

From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

Seuss’ Grinch sits somewhere in the middle — cuddlier than Krampus and pricklier than Santa — making him the perfect avatar for a moody, uncertain age.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025

And now there are circumstances to navigate that are pricklier than the actors’ five o’clock shadows.

From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2025

The second Stanford was a colder, pricklier place that lived inside students’ minds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Mulaney’s comedy, however, has become spikier, pricklier, sometimes slower while remaining as funny as ever, like he’s a pitcher who learned to mix up speeds.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

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 Eliot, George