nettlesome

adj

1. (usually)Causing irritation, annoyance, or discomfort; bothersome, irksome.

   “My old car is very nettlesome.”

   “Mackenzie made himself a nettlesome burr under Crook's saddle, irritating the commanding general.”

   “Though the pink dolphins are protected by law, the fishermen see them as nettlesome competitors for the catches that feed their families.”

2. (usually)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.”

   “[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.”

   “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.”

   “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?”