riddled

[ rid-ld ]

adjective

1. filled with, and often thoroughly weakened by, something undesirable (used in combination):

   For decades taxpayers subsidized this fault-riddled nuclear plant, with its defective reactors and substandard construction.

2. pierced in many places (usually used in combination):

   His bullet-riddled body was found two days later.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of riddle ².

Word History and Origins

Origin of riddled¹

riddle ²( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

Zen koans are riddles intended to shake seeker-monks free of their excessive dependence on linear thought processes.

From Nautilus

Quanta paid tribute to him with our October Insights puzzle, which included a numerical riddle he invented and other games based on or inspired by his work.

From Quanta Magazine

To be honest, riddles about leap years always make my head spin a little.

From FiveThirtyEight

The menu of fried food provides the basis for a predictable script, a handy way to sidestep the riddles of spontaneous conversation as she greets her regular customers.

From Washington Post

Just one problem — the riddle asked about three flips, not two.

From FiveThirtyEight

The genetic material can grow quickly, but are typically riddled with errors or defects.

From The Daily Beast

“Mainstream feminism is riddled with classism, racism, and sexual orientation discrimination,” she wrote.

From The Daily Beast

Her body, riddled with bullets, was found on the side of the road in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.

From The Daily Beast

But for a man who delighted in exposing hypocrisies, his relationship to Communism was riddled with duplicity.

From The Daily Beast

Instead it details how the Boeing 777 was riddled with holes created by “a large number of high energy objects from the outside.”

From The Daily Beast

Five horses were shot under him, his clothes were riddled with bullets, but he was reserved for a sinister fate.

From Project Gutenberg

"That is one way," said he, and so it was, for on holding the shirt up to the light it was seen to be riddled with holes.

From Project Gutenberg

The ham, which was almost as light as cork, was riddled with worm-holes, and as hard as a petrified sponge.

From Project Gutenberg

But as soon as his ship appeared all the American ships turned their guns on it, and riddled it with a frightful storm of iron.

From Project Gutenberg

Indeed, perspiration issues from the human body without its being divided or riddled with holes.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• addled
• ruined
• withered