Word.ws English Dictionary

prickliest

prickliest is the superlative form of prickly.

Meaning of prickly

Adjective

prickly (comparative pricklier, superlative prickliest)

  1. Covered with sharp points.
    • The prickly pear is a cactus; you have to peel it before eating it to remove the spines and the tough skin.
    Synonyms:
    thorny, spiny
  2. (figuratively) Easily irritated; thorny.
    • He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.
  3. (figuratively) Difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny.
    • It was a prickly situation.

See all 6 meanings of prickly

Questions about prickliest

What is prickliest the superlative form of?
Prickliest is the superlative form of prickly.

Words near prickliest in the dictionary

  1. prickletail
  2. pricklets
  3. pricklice
  4. pricklier
  5. pricklies
  6. prickliest
  7. prickliness
  8. pricklinesses
  9. prickling
  10. pricklingly
  11. pricklings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prickliest (page history and authors); prickly (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: “prickliest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prickliest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.