Thorny means covered with thorns (those sharp, pointed spikes that grow on roses and other plants), or complicated and difficult to deal with.

When you try to pick a rose without gloves, you quickly discover why the stem is called thorny: those hard, needle-like points can prick your fingers. Blackberry bushes are famously thorny, making it an adventure to harvest their sweet berries. Many desert plants are thorny to protect themselves from thirsty animals.

But thorny also describes problems or situations that are tricky to handle. A thorny issue is one with no easy solution, where every approach seems to create new complications. Imagine your school planning a field trip, but some students want to go to the science museum while others want the art museum, the budget is tight, and the weather forecast looks iffy. That's a thorny problem because no matter what decision the teachers make, someone will be disappointed or something might go wrong.

When someone describes a question as thorny, they mean it's prickly to approach, just like grabbing a rose stem: you have to move carefully and thoughtfully. Thorny situations require patience and clever thinking.