adjective

• 1(of hair or foliage) having a stiff and prickly texture.

  ‘he washed his bristly black hair’

  More example sentences

  • ‘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.’
  • ‘The bandleader, who doubles as the vocalist, is a small, nimble man with a mobile face and dark, bristly hair.’
  • ‘They looked like sunken fat cactuses, as a result of sporadic bristly hairs dotting their bulbous backs.’
  • ‘Whatever his status, he unveils a conical dome of dark flesh and bristly hair - supposedly the scalp a Yeti.’
  • ‘She looked at me after feeling the bristly hairs brush against her face again.’
  • ‘He had long, wiry black hair, and a bristly goatee-beard-mustache combination around his lower face.’
  • ‘They were tough, bristly, spiky cave bushes but still plants.’
  • ‘His bristly brown beard probably scratched Baby Chad wherever he kissed, but neither seemed to care.’
  • ‘His uniform - the one he'd always worn - was green with age and his whiskers were grey and bristly.’
  • ‘This was topped up with a bristly white moustache, a ruddy complexion and blue eyes.’
  • ‘His big bristly moustache twitched at the edges.’
  • ‘Nekoi looked up, a handsome, bristly muzzle appeared.’
  • ‘We kissed once more and I stroked his bristly face.’
  • ‘He had huge powerful arms and a bristly mustache.’
  • ‘I could only just discern the bristly tops of trees.’
  • ‘Still, it's difficult to imagine these hard, brown things with bristly bottoms pushing out such incredible blooms.’
  • ‘The mixed forests - tall white pine, bristly spruce, oak and maple - seem to extend forever.’
  • ‘He grabbed her hand and brought it to his face to rub her fingers over his bristly cheek.’

  Synonyms

  prickly, spiky, spiked, thorny, scratchy, stiff

  stubbly, hairy, scratchy, fuzzy, unshaven

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Covered with short, stiff hairs.
     ‘he rubbed his bristly chin’
     More example sentences

     • ‘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.’
     • ‘In fact, I once saw a woman sitting on the ground with a bristly little piglet on her lap.’
     • ‘I took the coarse, bristly rope in my hands and held it tight, hoping to still the uncontrollable shaking I felt.’
     • ‘She raised a hand and put it on his bristly cheek.’
     Synonyms

     hairy, shaggy, bushy, hair-covered, long-haired, woolly, furry, fleecy, fuzzy

     View synonyms