thorny

/ˈθɔrni/

/ˈθɔni/

Other forms: thorniest; thornier; thornily

Thorny things are either sharp and spiky, like a thorny briar patch, or troublesome and difficult, like a thorny problem. Either way, they can be painful!

When you tackle a thorny rosebush, you'll need thick gloves and sharp pruning shears. When you tackle a thorny issue at work or at school, on the other hand, you might need tools like diplomacy and intelligence. This figurative meaning of thorny is useful for describing especially complex or distressing issues, like a thorny political problem that divides a nation.

Definitions of thorny

1. adjective

   bristling with perplexities
   “the thorny question of states' rights”

   synonyms:

   difficult, hard

   not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
2. adjective

   having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
   synonyms: barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setaceous, setose, spiny

   armed

   (used of plants and animals) furnished with bristles and thorns