Englishbarbed
adjective
1 barbed wire:
jagged, hooked, spiky, spiked, spined, spiny, prickly, thorny, scratchy, bristly, bristled, briary, brambly, sharp, pointed;
technical spinose, spinous.
2 a barbed remark:
hurtful, wounding, cutting, biting, stinging, mean, spiteful, nasty, rude, cruel, vicious, unkind, unfriendly, snide, pointed, hateful, ill-natured, bitter, venomous, poisonous, mordant, acid, acerbic, acrimonious, astringent, caustic, sharp, scathing, hostile, rancorous, malicious, malevolent, evil-intentioned, baleful, vindictive, vengeful, vitriolic, splenetic, malign, malignant, pernicious, bilious;
informal bitchy, catty;
literary malefic, maleficent.
▷antonyms kindly, generous.
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| See spiky. | |
barbed Oxford Dictionary of English