thorny.

1. Having many sharp woody points or being full of thorn-bearing plants.

2. Difficult to resolve because of complications or sensitivities.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• thorny branches
• thorny thicket

On the page

Thorny branches caught the sleeves of her coat.

Usage notes

Primary category: setting / environment. Forms: Comparative more thorny; superlative most thorny when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: setting, description. Commonness: moderately common.