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prickly

[prik-lee]

adjective, -li·er, -li·est.

full of or armed with prickles.

full of troublesome points: a prickly problem.

prickling; smarting: a prickly sensation.

Origin:
1570–80; prickle + -y¹

Related forms

prick·li·ness, noun

un·prick·ly, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Prickly is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

prickly (ˈprɪklɪ)

—*adj* , -lier, -liest
1.	having or covered with prickles
2.	stinging or tingling
3.	bad-tempered or irritable
4.	full of difficulties; knotty: a prickly problem

'prickliness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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"What is this beast, she thought,
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