| adjective | bristling with perplexities “the thorny question of states' rights” |
| adjective | having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc. “a horse with a short bristly mane” |
| barbel | noun | slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish |
| briar | noun | a very prickly woody vine of the eastern United States growing in tangled masses having tough round stems with shiny leathery leaves and small greenish flowers followed by clusters of inedible shiny black berries |
| bristliness | noun | the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines |
| bristle | noun | a stiff fiber (coarse hair or filament); natural or synthetic |
| burr | noun | seed vessel having hooks or prickles |
| prickle | noun | a small sharp-pointed tip resembling a spike on a stem or leaf |
| prickliness | noun | the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines |
| seta | noun | a stiff hair or bristle |
| spininess | noun | the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines |
| thorniness | noun | the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines |
| thorn | noun | a small sharp-pointed tip resembling a spike on a stem or leaf |