as in difficult
requiring exceptional skill or caution in performance or handling
this promises to be a spiny problem to negotiate
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spiny
The long arms are made up of spiny plates that fit together like puzzle pieces, photos show.
—
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 June 2025
Sea urchins are small marine invertebrates, characterized by their spiny bodies and found in oceans around the world.
—Isabelle Rodney, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
Generally, deer don’t prefer plants that are fuzzy, highly aromatic, spiny, or spiky.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 7 June 2025
Binh’s spiny frogs were found near forest streams between elevations of about 1,000 to 2,500 feet, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for spiny
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 June 2025
Sea urchins are small marine invertebrates, characterized by their spiny bodies and found in oceans around the world.
—Isabelle Rodney, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
Generally, deer don’t prefer plants that are fuzzy, highly aromatic, spiny, or spiky.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 7 June 2025
Binh’s spiny frogs were found near forest streams between elevations of about 1,000 to 2,500 feet, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for spiny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spiny
Adjective
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This deep understanding of local transportation patterns would have been difficult with rapid multi-city expansion.—
Tima Bansal,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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But even though scientists have been able to discover thousands of planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system in recent years, including some around Proxima Centauri, which is fairly a dim star, it's been difficult to go planet-hunting around Alpha Centauri A and B, which orbit each other.—
Nell Greenfieldboyce,
NPR,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Even if increasing competition and financial obstruction have influenced summer recruitment, making this season’s challenges tougher, the confidence in Unai Emery and Villa’s football department remains unerring.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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Sanctions have roiled Russia's economy and Trump could use tougher measures as leverage over Putin, said Richard Portes, professor of economics at London Business School.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Federated Learning: This privacy-preserving technique allows AI models to learn from decentralized data across games and platforms without compromising user privacy, enhancing moderation without centralizing sensitive data.—
Anees Ali Khan,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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They are also believed to degrade water quality, which can hurt sensitive organisms like freshwater mussels.—
Madeline Heim,
jsonline.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Can the Cubs feel confident that their relievers will deliver them through a hairy situation when the chips are down?—
Jackson Roberts,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Aug. 2025
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To be clear, many of us—the Negroes, the queers, the hairy feminists, et cetera, et cetera—do not react out of a feeling of personal injury, as if the blondeness-as-beauty standard has terrorized us.—
Kathleen Newman-Bremang,
Refinery29,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Despite skyrocketing prices for TV rights from name-brand sports leagues, even smaller streaming services know their future will be driven in part by that particularly sticky tune-in driver for audiences.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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For dried or sticky grease, Marshall suggests switching to dish soap diluted in water and rubbing gently with a soft sponge or microfiber cloth.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Even if, again, the episode skips over the thorny question of how exactly this group of schmoes managed to cage a pure killing machine.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
5 Aug. 2025
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Such partnerships raise a host of thorny questions, says Michalak, who has worked with private companies, nonprofit groups, universities and the federal government on greenhouse gas monitoring satellite projects.—
Rebecca Hersher,
NPR,
4 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Previous reports by other news outlets have highlighted problematic behaviors by Meta chatbots related to children.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
16 Aug. 2025
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The horror short follows a young woman who makes a ghastly deal with a witch in exchange for her problematic boyfriend.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
15 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Some say the video represents a rising crime problem in the city, but crime statistics paint a more complicated picture.—
Dan Horn,
The Enquirer,
14 Aug. 2025
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In interviews with more than 30 lawmakers, political figures, supporters, friends, and critics, Mamdani emerges as both more interesting and more complicated than the caricatures suggest.—
Mark Chiusano,
Time,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spiny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spiny. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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