riddle

¹ American  

[rid-l] / ˈrɪd l /

noun

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

2. a puzzling question, problem, or matter.

3. a puzzling thing or person.

4. any enigmatic or dark saying or speech.

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verb (used without object)

riddled, riddling

1. to propound riddles; speak enigmatically.

riddle ² American  

[rid-l] / ˈrɪd l /

verb (used with object)

riddled, riddling

1. to pierce with many holes, suggesting those of a sieve.

   to riddle the target.

2. to fill or affect with (something undesirable, weakening, etc.).

   a government riddled with graft.

3. to impair or refute completely by persistent verbal attacks.

   to riddle a person's reputation.

4. to sift through a riddle, as gravel; screen.

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noun

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

riddle ¹ British  

/ ˈrɪdəl /

verb

1. (usually foll by with) to pierce or perforate with numerous holes

   riddled with bullets

2. to damage or impair

3. to put through a sieve; sift

4. to fill or pervade

   the report was riddled with errors

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noun

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

riddle ² British  

/ ˈrɪdəl /

noun

1. a question, puzzle, or verse so phrased that ingenuity is required for elucidation of the answer or meaning; conundrum

2. a person or thing that puzzles, perplexes, or confuses; enigma

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verb

1. to solve, explain, or interpret (a riddle or riddles)

2. (intr) to speak in riddles

Synonym Usage

See puzzle.

Other Word Forms

• riddler
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of riddle¹

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

Origin of riddle²

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

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Explanation

What's a question or problem that requires a bit of thought before you answer? It's a riddle, of course. The verb riddle can mean to speak in a puzzling fashion, though that use is not very common. The word riddle might put you in mind of such brain-teasers as "Why did the chicken cross the road?", but riddles actually have a distinguished history in English literature going back to the 10th century. Today, you often find riddle used to mean a hard problem or question to figure out. Is it a riddle to you why you have to go to school? In an unrelated use, if something is riddled with holes, there are many holes in it, quite possibly from bullets!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

riddle riddled riddling

The fundamental problem exposed by the latest court fight is that no one has a solution to the riddle of apportionment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

It’s the riddle of how to divide up the ever-dwindling supply of water from the Colorado River.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

It was Carney’s first crack at a riddle that would come to bedevil governments on both sides of the Atlantic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

“It’s just been the riddle that nobody could solve,” said Monica Florio, who has helped lead research on Amgen’s candidate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

“What’s the answer?” the boy repeated, and then he answered his own riddle.

From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong

Software engineer Simon Martin, 44, who lives in Ancoats, recounted how a cab driver told him he would have hesitated once to pick him up, when the area was riddled with crime.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Critics have accused the program of being riddled with fraud and abuse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

And that was before the surf zone became riddled with rocks, logs, rods, pipes and wires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Sanft has also said prosecution witnesses were unreliable and the police investigation was riddled with issues.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

It was big and swollen and riddled with crevices and white, scarred blemishes.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

You can’t help but like her even though she’s oblivious to the way her privilege provides insulation and her prescriptions turn out to be riddling and fickle.

From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2022

Rebranded as Súil, a Gaelic word meaning “hope,” the sparkling viognier is still made by hand through riddling, disgorging and recorking, and in limited quantities.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2021

He also served as a source for my notorious 1993 article “The Death of Proof,” which reported that “the doubts riddling modern human thought have finally infected mathematics.”

From Scientific American ● Sep. 15, 2019

A triptych tells riddling tales of masters and servants, with the same two actors playing all the roles, in two sumptuous gardens at an Italian villa.

From The New Yorker ● May 6, 2019

‘We have a work to do, and this is no time or place for riddling or parleying. Come! Where is the third of your company?’

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Related Words

• complexity
• conundrum
• dilemma
• enigma
• mystery
• puzzle
• quandary
• teaser

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