bristly
/ˈbrɪsli
/adjective
1(Of hair or foliage) having a stiff and prickly texture: he washed his bristly black hair the dunes were dotted with bristly little bushes...
- The bristly hair in your mustache prickles my skin, itching a bit.
- Mr. Gershwin, a rather catlike man with an intelligent face and bristly whiskers, began.
- My eyes were closed to avoid getting jabbed by the bristly grass blades.
Synonyms
prickly, spiky, spiked, thorny, scratchy, stiff;
briary, brambly
stubbly, hairy, scratchy, fuzzy, unshaven;
whiskered, whiskery, bewhiskered, bearded, hirsute;
rough, coarse, prickly
technical hispid
1.1Covered with short, stiff hairs: he rubbed his bristly chin...
- He was a short man with long unkempt hair and a bristly unshaved chin.
- The seeds of the castor plant have a bristly outer cover.
- He had dark wavy hair, dark blue eyes and a bristly chin.
Derivatives
bristliness
- He wore a red beard, just changed from the down of youth to the bristliness of manhood, and as yet unshaven.
- My beard sticks out straight from my face, so you can still see my skin underneath - it has none of the bushiness or bristliness of a proper beard.
- The vegetation of Lower California makes up in bristliness what it lacks in luxuriance.