1
2
as in difficult
requiring exceptional skill or caution in performance or handling
the candidate tried to avoid discussing his views on the thorny issue
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of thorny
The best bits of Body of Work are defined by the ideas that don’t center Skeletrix in the frame, the half-thoughts and thorny passages that breeze past if you aren’t locked in.
—
Olivier Lafontant, Pitchfork, 15 May 2026
Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith The thorny issue of multi-team ownership is again in the F1 spotlight amid Mercedes’ interest in purchasing a stake in Alpine.
—Patrick Iversen, New York Times, 15 May 2026
The rival superpowers entered the summit divided over thorny issues including Taiwan, trade disputes and the Iran war, though both Washington and Beijing have sought to prioritize stability in bilateral relations after a turbulent start to Trump’s second term.
—Katherine Doyle, NBC news, 14 May 2026
But for Anderson, who’s been deployed to some of the thorniest places on earth, the snaps lining the cardboard box hit a little different.
—Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for thorny
Olivier Lafontant, Pitchfork, 15 May 2026
Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith The thorny issue of multi-team ownership is again in the F1 spotlight amid Mercedes’ interest in purchasing a stake in Alpine.
—Patrick Iversen, New York Times, 15 May 2026
The rival superpowers entered the summit divided over thorny issues including Taiwan, trade disputes and the Iran war, though both Washington and Beijing have sought to prioritize stability in bilateral relations after a turbulent start to Trump’s second term.
—Katherine Doyle, NBC news, 14 May 2026
But for Anderson, who’s been deployed to some of the thorniest places on earth, the snaps lining the cardboard box hit a little different.
—Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for thorny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thorny
Adjective
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But the storms that lash the unpeopled coasts and jagged mountains of our Fiftieth State are no respecters of men, even the best of us.—
Ben East,
Outdoor Life,
14 May 2026
-
From the beginning, the Palisades, with its Mediterranean climate and jagged coastline, lured the most adventurous of settlers, each generation reshaping it in its own image.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Adjective
-
When Thomson went through a difficult divorce, in 2014, Djena would often check in on her, showing up at her door with food.—
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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Crow-Armstrong had just failed to make a highly difficult, leaping catch at the wall.—
Alejandro Avila OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
Adjective
-
One of them is home to Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), a prickly author who is supposed to be getting ready to move out but has instead descended into such a semi-feral state while working on her latest novel that her niece, Laurence (India Hair), hires someone to help her out.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
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The story follows a rough-around-the-edges man (Gyllenhaal) who ends up sharing an unwanted journey with his fiancée’s prickly, overprotective father (Costner) after a life-altering turn upends their plans.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
Adjective
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Each of those teams will be competing for playoff spots again, leaving the Raiders with no easy divisional wins and a tough out-of-division schedule.—
Sam Warren,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
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The group did just enough against Sale and a tough Braves bullpen to avoid getting shut out for the third time in five games.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
15 May 2026
Adjective
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Then came Tom Brady, who walked out on stage at first with a scratchy microphone that quickly corrected itself.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
11 May 2026
-
The polyester cloth was scratchy on my thighs, the fit inexact.—
Benny Peterson,
Vogue,
4 May 2026
Adjective
-
Auditors typically treat unattributable privileged actions as accountability gaps, because the framework expects sensitive operations to trace back to an accountable individual rather than an autonomous system.—
Janakiram MSV,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2026
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In addition, some companies and governments may pair that with quantum key cryptography, particularly for highly sensitive information.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
Adjective
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The pet trade has become somewhat problematic, Marchand said.—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
18 May 2026
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What kind of developer puts his money into an indie documentary that might give his business-as-usual peers — not to mention investors, luxury condo buyers and other beneficiaries of Miami’s prolonged but problematic and plainly inequitable real-estate boom — a conniption?—
Andres Viglucci,
Miami Herald,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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That’s a lot of complicated, and at times conflicting, objectives to try to balance.—
Steven D. Reske,
Chicago Tribune,
24 May 2026
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So, the story is getting more complicated because more people are telling it, but also society is dealing with new ideas around environmentalism and second-wave feminism.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
23 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Thorny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thorny. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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