1 covered with prickles:
a prickly bush / branch / leaf * The hedgehog curled up in a prickly ball.
2 causing you to feel as if your skin is touching sth that is covered with prickles:
a prickly feeling / sensation * The sweat made my skin feel all prickly.
3 (informal) (of a person) easily annoyed or offended
SYNTOUCHY:
He can be very prickly. * She's still a bit prickly about the whole incident.
4 (of a decision, an issue, etc.) difficult to deal with because people have very different ideas about it
SYNTHORNY:
Let's move on to the prickly subject of taxation reform.