noun |
adj |
verb |
adv |
(adj) barbed, barbellate, thorny, setaceous, setose, spiny, briary, briery, bristled, burred, burry, prickly
having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
a horse with a short bristly mane; bristly shrubs; burred fruits; setaceous whiskers
(adj) prickly, waspish, splenetic
very irritable
bristly exchanges between the White House and the press; he became prickly and spiteful; witty and waspish about his colleagues