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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Thorny \Thorn"y\, adjective [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} ({Fagonia Cretica}, etc.).
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
thorny
adjective
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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
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
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