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• n  the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines
• n  a rough and bitter manner

• Given Ferraro's thorniness, will she and Mondale be able to work together in the days ahead? Mondale aides are hopeful, but admit they do not know for sure.
• The thorniness of the disposal problem was aptly summed up by one Senate committee aide: "We don't need to do it in my backyard," he said.

• prickliness
• bristliness
• spininess
• bitterness
• acrimony
• acerbity
• jaundice
• tartness