riddle

[ rid-l ]

See synonyms for: riddle riddled riddles on Thesaurus.com

noun

a question or statement so framed as to exercise one's ingenuity in answering it or discovering its meaning; conundrum.
a puzzling question, problem, or matter.

a puzzling thing or person.
any enigmatic or dark saying or speech.

verb (used without object),rid·dled, rid·dling.

to propound riddles; speak enigmatically.

Origin of riddle

First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun redel, redels, Old English rǣdels(e) “counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle” + -els(e) noun suffix; cognate with German Rätsel, Dutch raadsel; see also rede

synonym study For riddle

1. See puzzle.

Words Nearby riddle

Other definitions for riddle (2 of 2)

riddle²

[ rid-l ]

verb (used with object),rid·dled, rid·dling.

to pierce with many holes, suggesting those of a sieve: to riddle the target.
to fill or affect with (something undesirable, weakening, etc.): a government riddled with graft.

to impair or refute completely by persistent verbal attacks: to riddle a person's reputation.
to sift through a riddle, as gravel; screen.

noun

a coarse sieve, as one for sifting sand in a foundry.

Origin of riddle

First recorded before 1100; Middle English noun riddil, Old English hriddel, variant of hridder, hrīder; cognate with German Reiter; akin to Latin crībrum “sieve”; verb derivative of the noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use riddle in a sentence

This riddle is best solved by asking an actual small-business owner.
Many Businesses Thought They Were Insured for a Pandemic. They Weren’t. (Ep. 437) | Stephen J. Dubner | October 29, 2020 | Freakonomics
The riddle was reported August 14 in Physical Review Letters.
The exotic ‘atom’ positronium surprises scientists | Emily Conover | September 23, 2020 | Science News For Students
Just as the denominator in the original riddle was 53, here it was N3.
Can You Break A Very Expensive Centrifuge? | Zach Wissner-Gross | September 18, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
Sounds like the makings of another riddle…Congratulations to Tobias Tapirello of Budapest, Hungary, winner of last week’s Riddler Classic.
Can The Hare Beat The Tortoise? | Zach Wissner-Gross | July 17, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
To solve the riddle, Hofgartner and his colleagues revisited data from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia and the Cassini spacecraft.
Flat spots on Saturn’s moon Titan may be the floors of ancient lake beds | Lisa Grossman | June 16, 2020 | Science News

Dickinson did this as a game and a test—she loved riddles and turned herself into a riddle wrapped in her own lines.
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun | Katie Baker | November 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The question, almost akin to a riddle, is certainly a relevant one to anybody in a creative field.
Frank Gehry Is Architecture’s Mad Genius | Sarah Moroz | October 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Able-bodied people rarely notice the barriers that riddle the world which keep the disabled from participating in society.
#YesAllWomen Should Have the Church On Their Side | Gene Robinson | June 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
When Scott Kleinberg wrote about the riddle for The Chicago Tribune, he changed the answer.
Facebook Profile Pictures Taken Over by Giraffes: Behind the Invasion | Susanna Speier | November 1, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Some will send paragraph-long descriptions of why the riddle is ‘flawed.’
Facebook Profile Pictures Taken Over by Giraffes: Behind the Invasion | Susanna Speier | November 1, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Men of science strove to read the riddle of life; to guide and to succour their fellow creatures.
God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
To him who flees love, its nature is explicable; to you, who are still under its influence, it remains a riddle.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey Chaucer
It was on them that I began to spell out those signs which to the learned reveal a few faint traces of the Mighty riddle.
Marguerite | Anatole France
The dossier is not complete, but, such as it is, it furnishes a riddle in which the supernatural appears to play a part.
A Thin Ghost and Others | M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James
I like secrets—especially those which concern women—well enough to have amused myself by seeking the clue to the riddle.
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket | Honore de Balzac

British Dictionary definitions for riddle (1 of 2)

riddle¹

/ (ˈrɪdəl) /

noun

a question, puzzle, or verse so phrased that ingenuity is required for elucidation of the answer or meaning; conundrum
a person or thing that puzzles, perplexes, or confuses; enigma

verb

to solve, explain, or interpret (a riddle or riddles)
(intr) to speak in riddles

Origin of riddle

Old English rǣdelle, rǣdelse, from rǣd counsel; related to Old Saxon rādislo, German Rätsel

Derived forms of riddle

riddler, noun

British Dictionary definitions for riddle (2 of 2)

riddle²

/ (ˈrɪdəl) /

verb(tr)

(usually foll by with) to pierce or perforate with numerous holes: riddled with bullets
to damage or impair

to put through a sieve; sift
to fill or pervade: the report was riddled with errors

noun

a sieve, esp a coarse one used for sand, grain, etc

Origin of riddle

Old English hriddel a sieve, variant of hridder; related to Latin crībrum sieve

Derived forms of riddle

riddler, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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