(superl.) Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown.
(superl.) Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing.
Example Sentences:
(1) Thorny issues of racism on the catwalk, of the impact of fashion on our relationship with food, of the decreasing relevance of the traditional catwalk show in the digital age, and of the bloated size of the fashion industry are the topics engrossing the front row.
(2) And ICMP, as it says in its mandate, "provides assistance to governments", so some sort of post-conflict administration would have to be in place in Syria to request help in dealing with the thorny issue of missing persons.
(3) Implementing real joint working VODG chairman Bill Mumford: " How well CCGs and the NHS works with other stakeholders to try and deliver change – together with local authorities and the third and private sector – is a thorny issue.
(4) Unless a replacement guarantee is in place when Britain quits the EU, this could be frozen, she said, adding: “These rights need to be settled before the triggering of article 50 .” Healthcare is another thorny issue with different systems across the continent.
(5) It’s almost like an 80s movie or something – the kind that studios don’t make anymore.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest There is a definite Big Chill vibe to Don’t Think Twice, a comedy that explores the thorny rifts between friends when one person’s newfound success threatens to alienate the group.
(6) The role of the chair is critical in avoiding these sorts of behind the scenes deals and ensuring that thorny issues are aired and treated with due care.
(7) At the same time the red cells became crenated and developed thorny spicules (echinocytes).
(8) 10 Privacy issues loom large There are two thorny issues around lifelogging: your privacy, and that of others.
(9) We kept them at bay.” And when people ask about thorny issues such as Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s reversal on tuition fees?
(10) It was not the supposed imminent collapse of the Syrian regime that dominated the recent meeting of the Friends of Syria in Marrakech but the thorny subject of al-Nusra, one of the armed resistance groups operating in the country, which the US has just classified as a "foreign terrorist organisation" .
(11) It may be that a solution to these thorny problems arises from consultation but on the evidence of the draft bill they are not the government's priority.
(12) The thorny issue of local authority role and oversight was pushed back on to a review by one of his predecessors, David Blunkett, with a strong endorsement for tougher regulation of admissions.
(13) On another thorny issue – the cost of travelling into Wales via the Severn bridges – the manifesto says it will support the UK government’s commitment to halve tolls on the crossings.
(14) Once there, they dispersed among the thorny trees looking for patches of sunken ground which suggested something lay buried beneath.
(15) One category, termed short-shaft pyramidal neurons, is characterized by short apical shafts, a large number of thorny excrescences, and densely branched apical and basilar trees.
(16) It signals US displeasure but stops short of a full-blown boycott that could escalate tensions with the Kremlin, at a time when Washington still badly needs Moscow's help on Syria, Iran and other thorny international problems.
(17) But there are thorny issues here which, as Goat grow in prominence, they can no longer ignore.
(18) In conclusion, gamma-ray irradiation destroys the majority of granule cells and induces a reduction in the development of thorny excrescences.
(19) The islands are mainly composed of star-shaped nerve cells with thorny dendrites and an axon extending into the white matter.
(20) But talks have advanced to the make-up of his back-room team at Anfield – his former Dortmund assistant, Zeljko Buvac, and analyst, Peter Krawietz – and the thorny issue of Liverpool’s transfer committee has not discouraged Klopp from wanting the job.
Vexatious
Definition:
(a.) Causing vexation; agitating; afflictive; annoying; as, a vexatious controversy; a vexatious neighbor.
(a.) Full or vexation, trouble, or disquiet; disturbed.
Example Sentences:
(1) Unions blame 70% fall in employment tribunal cases on fees Read more “The government originally said making people pay would weed out vexatious claims.
(2) Stirling's attempt to refuse the request, calling it "vexatious", smacks of fear.
(3) Calling the story, originally published on gossip website TMZ “a vexatious lie”, Morrissey threatened legal action and claimed the matter is “in the hands of” Los Angeles police.
(4) The IPT invited us to respond to the security services' assertion that the claim was "vexatious", but was unable to tell us what their substantive response was – because the security services did not consent to Shaker knowing whether they had actually been defaming him in secret.
(5) The best contributions tell the truth, or if not the truth (a vexatious and flexible concept, given history’s tendency to be somewhat in the eye of the beholder) – then at least truth according to the person providing the story.
(6) He said that the "late submission of thousands of pages of documents was both vexatious and unreasonable".
(7) It is easy to accuse Clegg of mishandling the Rennard affair but he is at the mercy of a chaotic "open market" for vexatious litigation and of an upper chamber of Byzantine archaism desperately in need of reform.
(8) The paperwork that embodies government outsourcing, the physical contracts themselves, tells you a lot about how vexatious the whole business is.
(9) "What the commissioner has ruled is that he doesn't believe that the request is vexatious," a spokeswoman said.
(10) She doesn't believe that people willingly pursue "vexatious claims".
(11) "Frivolous or vexatious claims" could be struck out at an early stage.
(12) Parliament on Monday proposed no safeguards against this becoming a PPI-style stampede for anyone – including lobbyists – trying to grab a compulsory correction plus a quick payof f. Fining journalists for unethical deeds is a charter for the vexatious.
(13) Many complaints received by the IPT were "frivolous, vexatious" or even paranoid, he explained, some, for example, of the type where people claimed that listening devices had been implanted in their teeth by MI5.
(14) However, it would not be abhorrent to its business practices and shareholders: an algorithmic tweak knocking out a whole class of vexatious litigants would surely be worth it?
(15) It’s why we remove malware from our search results and other products.” Whetstone’s blog post poked fun at Thomson’s assertion that by undermining the “basic business model of professional content creators” such as News Corp, Google was helping create a “less informed, more vexatious level of dialogue”, with the result that “intemperate trends” across Europe would proliferate.
(16) The vexatious issue of the 'post-concussional syndrome' is discussed and the conclusion is reached that it is unlikely that this syndrome is solely produced by the possibility of compensation.
(17) The university said the firm's application, originally made anonymously through a London law firm, was "vexatious" and rejected it.
(18) Naylor's chief operating officer, Bridie Warner-Adsetts, said a reduction in "vexatious" employment tribunal claims would also benefit businesses.
(19) Undermining the basic business model of professional content creators will lead to a less informed, more vexatious level of dialogue in our society," he wrote.
(20) Robert Thomson, chief executive of the company, had accused Google of creating a “less informed, more vexatious level of dialogue in our society”.