barb
Other forms: barbed; barbs; barbing
Whether it is a spike on the wire atop a security fence or a mean remark someone said about you, a barb can hurt. When you encounter either kind of barb, you should stay away.
Barb comes from the Latin word barba, which means “beard.” Beards offer protection from things like cold and wind, but as Mommy found out when she kissed Santa Claus, they can also be quite scratchy. Perhaps this is why, when it comes to talking about beards, some people speak nothing but barbs.
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a subsidiary point facing opposite from the main point that makes an arrowhead or spear hard to remove
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the pointed part of barbed wiretype of:pointsharp end
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an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect
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provide with barbs
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one of the parallel filaments projecting from the main shaft of a feather
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Vocabulary lists containing barb
Shipwrecked and blinded from a torpedo attack, Phillip must conquer his prejudices when his only companion is an elderly West Indian man named Timothy.
Jessie learns that the 19th-century frontier village she lives in is actually a 20th-century tourist attraction — and she must venture out into the modern world to find life-saving medicine for her community.
In the 1960s, an Iñupiaq boy is sent to a boarding school where he is forbidden from acknowledging his native language and customs.