EN

Synonyms for spiny

  • adjective

Most common

barbed bristled burry bristly prickly thorny spinelike

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Bristly

bristly, barbed, bristled, burry, briery, setose, barbellate, setaceous

2. Prickly — troublesome; difficult or vexing

prickly, thorny

Other

spinous, spinelike

Antonyms

spineless, unspiny, unspined

All antonyms of spiny →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Troublesome; difficult or vexing.

  2. adj. 2

    Covered in spines or thorns.

Related words

Word family
spininess
Phrases
spiny lobster spiny anteater spiny dogfish spiny lizard graphic spiny lizard medium spiny neuron spiny bear's breech spiny broom

Example sentences

  • barbed The building is surrounded by a barbed wire fence.
  • bristled Mary bristled with rage after Tom broke her vase.
  • prickly A thistle is like a prickly person, lots of spines.
  • thorny For giraffes, the thorny acacia leaves are a feast.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
spinysteady
barbedrising
bristledrising
burrysteady
bristlysteady
pricklyrising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

5 letters
burry2
6 letters
barbed1, thorny2, briery, setose
7 letters
prickly2, bristly, spinous
8 letters
bristled2
9 letters
setaceous, spinelike
10 letters
barbellate

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (burry2 = 2 syllables).