thorny

comparative thornier · superlative thorniest

1. literallyHaving thorns or spines.

   Tara flour is one of two products made from the seed pods of a thorny shrub native to Peru. One of those, tara gum, has been used safely for years as a thickening agent or stabilizer in human foods.

   2024 October 3, Sandee LaMotte, “‘I’ve never experienced pain like that’: Consumers pay the price for untested food ingredients”, in CNN

   Synonyms: prickly, spiny

2. figurativelyTroublesome or vexatious.

   thorny issues

   5 more examples

   the steep and thorny way to heaven

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   Westcott doesn’t even consider the thornier question of fan fiction based on real and often living people, for instance, the “bandslash” or “bandfic” phenomenon built around rock-star characters and often homoerotic subplots.

   2008 July 15, Keith Goetzman, “Is Fan Fiction Flouting the Law?”, in Utne Reader

   Six weeks into the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the thorniest issues surrounding the pact remain unresolved.

   2017 September 28, Ana Swanson, “How the Trump Administration Is Doing Renegotiating Nafta”, in The New York Times

   Museums have recently begun to confront the same thorny question, with several issuing public apologies for collecting the remains of people believed or known to have been enslaved.

   2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post

   Station capacity in London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam remains a thorny issue, as does obtaining suitable Channel Tunnel-compliant trains.

   2025 April 16, Ben Jones, “An opening for international high-speed competition”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 13

3. figurativelyAloof and irritable.

   Come, Jo, don't be thorny. After studying himself to a skeleton all the week, a fellow deserves petting, and ought to get it.

   1868, Louisa May Alcott, Good Wives