Word.ws English Dictionary

briar-patches

briar-patches is the plural of briar-patch.

Meaning of briar-patch

Noun

briar-patch (plural briar-patches)

  1. (literally) A dense thicket of thorny plants; ground made impassable by the impenetrable overgrowth of prickly vegetation.
    • Hobbes: I'm sick of going over and through every obstacle on the hill.
      Calvin: Every obstacle?!? We missed the briar patch, didn't we?!
      Hobbes: By going down the gully and into the stream, yes.1989 January 3, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic)
  2. (figuratively, singular, usually) An intellectual or philosophical issue abounding with seemingly unresolvable problems; a theoretical quandary or impasse.
    • Our favorite writers can lead us into ideological brier patches and ethical thickets.2016 February 28, A.O. Scott, “In His New Collection, ‘The Rub of Time,’ Martin Amis Takes On Everyone From Travolta to Trump”, in The New York Times

Questions about briar-patches

What is briar-patches the plural of?
Briar-patches is the plural of briar-patch.

Words near briar-patches in the dictionary

  1. Briançon chalk
  2. briar
  3. Briar Hill
  4. briar patch
  5. briar-patch
  6. briar-patches
  7. briar-root
  8. briar-roots
  9. briarane
  10. briaranes
  11. briarberries

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: briar-patches (page history and authors); briar-patch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “briar-patches.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/briar-patches. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.