Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use spiky in a sentence

16 example sentences · adjective

Spiky means of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”). Example: “Dracorex is smallest and spikiest.”

Examples of spiky by meaning

adjectiveHaving one or more spikes; spiny.

  • Dracorex is smallest and spikiest.2016, Darren Naish, Paul Barrett, “Biology, Ecology and Behaviour”, in Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved, London: Natural History...

adjectiveResembling spikes: erect and having sharp points; spikelike.

  • Roundness, as with earlier secretary hand, was a signifier of trade – a spikier hand was regarded as more fitting for young ladies' personal letter writing.1996, David Graddol, “English Manuscripts: The Emergence of a Visual Identity”, in David Graddol, Dick Leith, Joan Swann, editors, English...

adjectiveOf a person or their nature: difficult to deal with; abrasive, hostile, unfriendly.

  • a spiky personality

More sentences with spiky

  • Gen Zers are taking to TikTok to film themselves unpeeling conkers from their spiky capsules.2025 October 13, “‘Nature’s Labubu’: why are gen Z ‘unboxing’ conkers?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry conker
  • The Durion is a large, spiky fruit that is often used in Asian cuisine.2022, Barrington Nixon, Fruits Of The Alphabet: ABC fruit learning, Flash Page Fruit Learning, Fruits And Letters, A-Z Fruit Learning…. From the entry durion
  • Shivering, his hair spiky with sweat, he needs a few minutes to regain composure.1999 June 18, “Rock and a hard place”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived…. From the entry gacked
  • But it was spikier and it had other spikes curving down—it rested on three of them.1967 February, Algis Budrys, “The Iron Thorn”, in Frederik Pohl, editor, Worlds of IF Science Fiction, volume 17, number 2 (111 overall)…. From the entry spikey
  • They fill your mouth with hot, spicy flavours or spiky textures, their leaves sometimes green, sometimes flushed with beetroot red.2001 August 12, Dan Pearson, “Turn over new leaves”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the…. From the entry beetroot red
  • It, too, has brilliant red flowers, also spiky, and from their season of blooming it is sometimes called the Christmas-tree.1907 October 26, Constance A[lice] Barnicoat, “New Zealand Wild Flowers”, in Country Life, volume XXII, number 564, London: George Newnes…. From the entry Christmas tree
  • They are distinct from other lizards by being spiky, rather than smooth and shiny, and from the unique formation of their teeth.2019 May 24, Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian. From the entry dragon lizard
  • Her short, spiky hair now had a green tinge and her complexion, once a soft peaches and cream hue, was now a cream-cheesy colour.2010, Deirdre O’Brien, The Adventures of Monkey and Me, Drogheda: Choice Publishing Ltd., →ISBN, page 24. From the entry cream-cheesy
  • Think spiky ankle boots rather than DMs, black sweaters laddered to expose an expertly judged glimpse of décolletage instead of cardigans with frayed cuffs.2009 August 1, Jess Cartner-Morley, “How to dress: The grunge revival”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2024. From the entry glunge
  • A darkly toned short story collection from the Japanese underground writer about a series of spiky tongued, bad girl narrators whose lives are hilariously altered by supernatural occurrences.2024 March 6, Agnès Houghton-Boyle, “CAHYATI IN CONVERSATION: MEET THE TEAM BEHIND BALI'S BOLDEST PRRINTMAKERS”, in Fetch.London, archived…. From the entry blondster
  • That is an extraordinary achievement for a spiky ball of genetic material coated in fatty chemicals called lipids, and which measures 80 billionths of a metre in diameter.2020 April 19, Robin McKie, “Coronavirus: five months on, what scientists know about Covid-19”, in The Guardian. From the entry billionth
  • A lanky werelioness with black, spiky hair—and two semiautomatic pistols in holsters that formed an X on her chest— sprawled in a chair outside the door.2015, Ally Shields, Eternal Fires, Etopia Press, →ISBN. From the entry werelioness
  • It is well-known that even the spikiest scientist, the acned misanthrope with a coatful of ballpoint pens, gets softened and blurred in his first term on an Oxford High Table.1987, Punch - Volume 293, Issues 7662-7669, page xxviii. From the entry coatful

Meaning of spiky

  1. adjective Of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”).
  2. adjective Of a plant part: resembling a spike of a plant (see above).
  3. adjective Having one or more spikes; spiny.

Full definition of spiky

Questions about spiky in a sentence

How do you use spiky in a sentence?
Spiky is used as an adjective. For example: “Dracorex is smallest and spikiest.”
What is a short sentence with spiky?
“a spiky personality”
What does spiky mean?
Spiky means of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”).

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spiky (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use spiky in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/spiky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.