Word.ws English Dictionary

prickliness

/ˈpɹɪklɪnəs/

prickliness noun: the state or quality of being prickly.

Noun

prickliness (usually uncountable, plural pricklinesses)

  1. (usually) The state or quality of being prickly.
    • The sharp prickliness of its finnes.1661, J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, page 105
    • A Thistle…assuming a new Form, and without any prickliness.1725, Bradley, Fam. Dict., volume II, s.v. Presage

Forms of prickliness

pluralpricklinesses

Origin of prickliness

From prickly + -ness.

Questions about prickliness

What does prickliness mean?
Prickliness means the state or quality of being prickly.
What part of speech is prickliness?
Prickliness is a noun.
How do you pronounce prickliness?
Prickliness is pronounced /ˈpɹɪklɪnəs/.
What is the plural of prickliness?
The plural of prickliness is pricklinesses.

Words near prickliness in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prickliness (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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