bristling
Hair on end
Bristling describes something standing stiffly upright, like the raised hairs on an angry animal's back.
A bristling beard is thick and coarse.
Bristling with something means densely packed or armed: a fortress bristling with cannons, a contract bristling with legal traps.
Someone bristling is visibly offended or defensive, their hackles metaphorically raised: She bristled at the suggestion.
Spiny or irritable
- thornyHaving sharp protrusions
- spinyHaving sharp points
- quillsHollow defensive animal spikes
- needlesSlender pointed instruments
barbed · pointed · stiff · hedgehog · porcupine · cactus · bur · urchin
Wary and restrained
reactive · protective · standoffish · touchy · sensitive · hackled · stiffened · alert
Extremely angry, visibly so
- seethingIntensely, quietly enraged
- indignantAngered by unfairness
- irateExtremely angry
- enragedExtremely, intensely provoked
livid · incensed · wrathful · furious · outraged · agitated · resentful · vexed
prickly
Spiny or irritable
needles · barbed · pointed · stiff · hedgehog · porcupine · cactus · bur · urchin · stubble
guarded
Wary and restrained
tense · reactive · protective · standoffish · touchy · sensitive · hackled · stiffened · alert · watchful
fuming
Extremely angry, visibly so
enraged · livid · incensed · wrathful · furious · outraged · agitated · resentful · vexed · annoyed
crowded
Filled beyond comfort
crammed · overflowing · filled · studded · dense · thick · abundant · brimming · loaded · bursting
charged
Formally accused of crime
volatile · explosive · heated · fervent · fierce · dynamic · potent · vigorous · turbulent · stirring
- body languagegestures, facial expressions, hand gestures, posture, nodding
- angeranger, rage, fury, wrath, ire
- body reactionssweating, blushing, shiver, goosebumps, twitch
- defenseswall, walls, fence, gate, barrier
- irritabilitycranky, grouchy, grumpy, irritated, annoyed
- sensitivitysensitivity, sensitive, hypersensitivity, oversensitivity, hypersensitive