nettlesome
Adjective

nettlesome

  1. (of a person, thing, situation, etc.) Causing irritation, annoyance, or discomfort; bothersome, irksome.
    My poison ivy rash is very nettlesome.
    • 1995, Terry C. Johnston, A Cold Day in Hell, ISBN 9780553299762, online edition ↗:
      Mackenzie made himself a nettlesome burr under Crook's saddle, irritating the commanding general.
    • 2011 April 16, Alexei Barrionuevo, "Fishermen in Amazon See a Rival in Dolphins ↗," New York Times (retrieved 20 Jan 2011):
      Though the pink dolphins are protected by law, the fishermen see them as nettlesome competitors for the catches that feed their families.
  2. (of a task, problem, etc.) Thorny; difficult to deal with, especially due to being complex or tricky.
    The task of proving Fermat’s “last” theorem remains nettlesome.
    Be careful what you say to him; he's a nettlesome fellow.
    • 1832, Mary Russell Mitford (editor), Lights and Shadows of American Life, vol. 2, p. 241 ↗:
      [A]ll the strange oaths and imprecations found in a seaman's vocabulary were called into service by our nettlesome captain and his crew, and hurled without mercy on the winds and weather.
    • 1904, Winston Churchill, The Crossing (2003 Kessinger reprint), ISBN 9780766169982, p. 61 ↗:
      It so chanced that on the second day after my arrival a pack-train came along, guided by a nettlesome old man and a strong, black-haired lass of sixteen or thereabouts. The old man . . . had no sooner slipped the packs from the horses than he began to rail at Hans, who stood looking on. "You damned Dutchmen all be Tories, and worse," he cried.
    • 1950 Oct. 9, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935508,00.html The Press: John Smith, Negro]," Time:
      Almost daily, U.S. newspapers are confronted by a nettlesome problem for which they have found no final answer. The problem: Should Negroes be identified as such in news stories?
    • 1989 Dec. 29, Kenneth B. Noble, "Nigeria Enlists the Nettlesome Man in Short Pants ↗," New York Times (retrieved 20 Jan 2011):
      For nearly 40 years, Mr. Solarin, an unpretentious and intensely pugnacious man, has been an intellectual guru for Nigeria's disenchanted and disfranchised.
    • 1995, Eugenia Price, Beauty from Ashes, ISBN 9780385423144, p. 146 ↗:
      No one could act naturally with her. . . . She was sure she had never lived through days in which she, Anne Couper Fraser, forced those nearby to tiptoe around her nettlesome personality.
    • 2000 Jan. 6, Jeremy Quittner, "The Lemonade Stand Circa 2000: A Boy, a Site, a $10 Million Lawsuit ↗," BusinessWeek (retrieved 20 Jan 2011):
      He's also delving into one of the most nettlesome legal issues on the Net — whether one party can turn another's trademark into a URL.
Translations
  • Italian: urticante
  • Russian: раздражающий



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