adj
thorny
THAW-nee
adj
1
Covered in or bearing thorns or spines.
"The gardener wore thick gloves to handle the thorny rose bushes."
2
Difficult, complicated, or likely to cause disagreement.
"Immigration remains a thorny issue in national politics."
"They avoided the thorny question of who would pay for the repairs."
How to Use Thorny
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishLiterally full of thorns, or figuratively a tricky problem that's hard to handle without upsetting someone.
Common pairings
a thorny issue
thorny problem
thorny question
Word Forms
thornier comparative, thorniest superlative
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The gardener wore thick gloves to handle the _____ rose bushes.
Etymology
From Old English þorniġ, built from thorn plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.