thorny
pronunciation
How to pronounce thorny in British English:
UK [ˈθɔ:ni]
How to pronounce thorny in American English:
US [ˈθɔrni]
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- Adjective:
- bristling with perplexities
- having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
Word Origin
- thorny (adj.)
- Old English þornig; see thorn + -y (2). Figurative sense is attested from mid-14c. Related: Thorniness. Similar formation in Dutch doornig, German dornig.
Example
- 1. Design or market research is always a thorny issue .
- 2. But the advent of autonomous vehicles poses thorny legal issues , the google researchers acknowledged .
- 3. Then there is the thorny issue of trade .
- 4. Other thorny issues lurk in the weeds .
- 5. Another factor is the thorny issue of status .