Thorny \Thorn"y\, a. [Compar. Thornier; superl. Thorniest.]

[Cf. AS. [thorn]orniht.]

1. Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown. [1913 Webster]

2. Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing. "The thorny point of bare distress." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

The steep and thorny way to heaven. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Thorny rest-harrow (Bot.), rest-harrow.

Thorny trefoil, a prickly plant of the genus Fagonia (Fagonia Cretica, etc.). [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

72 Moby Thesaurus words for "thorny": Herculean, abstruse, acanaceous, acanthoid, aciculate, aculeolate, arduous, barbed, barbellate, brambly, briery, bristly, brutal, complex, complicated, controversial, critical, delicate, demanding, difficile, difficult, exacting, formidable, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, intricate, involved, jawbreaking, knotted, knotty, laborious, mean, muricate, nasty, nettlesome, no picnic, not easy, operose, painful, pricking, prickly, pricky, problematic, rigorous, rough, rugged, set with thorns, setaceous, setose, severe, spiculate, spiculose, spiked, spinous, spiny, steep, sticky, stinging, strenuous, tangled, thistly, ticklish, toilsome, tough, tricky, troublesome, uphill, vexatious, wicked, worrying

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

thorny adj
1: bristling with perplexities; "the thorny question of states' rights"
2: 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" [syn: barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setose, setaceous, spiny] [also: thorniest, thornier]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Thorny \Thorn"y\, a. [Compar. Thornier; superl. Thorniest.]

[Cf. AS. [thorn]orniht.]

1. Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown.

2. Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing. ``The thorny point of bare distress.'' --Shak.

The steep and thorny way to heaven. --Shak.

Thorny rest-harrow (Bot.), rest-harrow.

Thorny trefoil, a prickly plant of the genus Fagonia (F. Cretica, etc.).

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)