thorny

/ˈθɔːni/US/ˈθɔɹni/

thorny adjective: having thorns or spines.

Adjective

thorny (comparative thornier, superlative thorniest)

(literally) Having 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
(figuratively) Troublesome or vexatious.
- thorny issues
- the steep and thorny way to heavenc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
(figuratively) Aloof 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

thorny meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

thorny in Hindi

having thorns: कटीला kaṭīlā

thorny in Tamil

முள்ளார்ந்த, முள்ளொத்த, முள்செறிந்த

thorny in Marathi

thorny: काटेरी kāṭerī

thorny in Urdu

thorny: کٹھن kaṭhin

More languagesFewer languages

thorny in Malayalam: മുള്ളുള്ള
thorny in Punjabi: ਕੰਡਿਆਲ਼ਾ kaṇḍiāḷā
thorny in Assamese: কাঁইটীয়া kãitia
thorny in Tagalog: matinik
thorny in Arabic: شَائِك šāʔik

Examples of thorny in a sentence

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...
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:
Mr. [Jake] Sullivan noted that turning away from thorny global issues like climate change would not stop them from posing a threat to the United States, and the world.2025 September 26, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, “Gabbard Ends Intelligence Report on Future Threats to U.S.”, in The New York Times...

Synonyms of thorny

Forms of thorny

comparative	thornier
superlative	thorniest

Origin of thorny

From Middle English thorny, þorny, þorni, from Old English þorniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *þornag. By surface analysis, thorn + -y.

Words formed from thorny

Phrases with thorny

Words that rhyme with thorny

Questions about thorny

What does thorny mean?: Thorny means having thorns or spines.
What is thorny in Hindi?: Thorny in Hindi is कटीला (kaṭīlā). See Thorny meaning in Hindi.
How do you use thorny in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is thorny?: Thorny is an adjective.
How do you pronounce thorny?: Thorny is pronounced /ˈθɔːni/ (UK).

Words near thorny in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: thorny (page history and authors); thorny (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); काटेरी (Marathi) (page history and authors); کٹھن (Urdu) (page history and authors); thorny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੰਡਿਆਲ਼ਾ (Punjabi) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-thorny.wav.

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