riddle

[rid-l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR riddle 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

before 1000; Middle English redel, redels (noun), Old English rǣdels(e) counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle (rǣd(an) to counsel, rede + -els(e) deverbal noun suffix) with loss of -s- in ME through confusion with the plural form of the noun suffix -el -le (cf. burial); cognate with German Rätsel, Dutch raadsel

Synonyms for riddle

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR riddle ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See puzzle.

riddle

[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

before 1100; (noun) Middle English riddil, Old English hriddel, variant of hridder, hrīder; cognate with German Reiter; akin to Latin crībrum sieve; (v.) Middle English ridlen to sift, derivative of the noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for riddled

mar, pervade, puncture, corrupt, infest, pepper, pierce, damage, impair, spoil, bore, pit, honeycomb

Examples from the Web for riddled

Contemporary Examples of riddled

“Mainstream feminism is riddled with classism, racism, and sexual orientation discrimination,” she wrote.
Will White Feminists Finally Dump Lena Dunham?
Samantha Allen
November 4, 2014
Her body, riddled with bullets, was found on the side of the road in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.
The Kremlin’s Plan to Erase Russia’s Memory and Its Conscience
Anna Nemtsova
October 13, 2014
But for a man who delighted in exposing hypocrisies, his relationship to Communism was riddled with duplicity.
Brecht's Mercenary Mother Courage Turns 75
Katie Baker
September 10, 2014
Instead it details how the Boeing 777 was riddled with holes created by “a large number of high energy objects from the outside.”
MH17 Switched Places With Another Jet
Clive Irving
September 9, 2014
Does the raucous, N-word riddled hip-hop spectacular live up to the hype?
The Tupac Musical Hits Broadway: Kenny Leon’s ‘Holler If Ya Hear Me’ Is Crazy, Silly Fun
Marlow Stern
June 19, 2014

Historical Examples of riddled

The meteors that riddled the ship were projectiles shot from their station on Jupiter.
Pirates of the Gorm
Nat Schachner
The bullet and the moth have torn And riddled well the dolmans dim.
Enamels and Cameos and other Poems
Thophile Gautier
He could not possibly have escaped with his life, Blake said; he must have been riddled with bullets.
Whispering Smith
Frank H. Spearman
Had I obeyed my own impulse, I should have been riddled like any colander.
Recollections
David Christie Murray
Washington's clothes had been riddled by bullets, but he had escaped injury.
Canada: the Empire of the North
Agnes C. Laut

British Dictionary definitions for riddled

riddle

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

Derived Formsriddler, noun

Word Origin for riddle

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

riddle

verb (tr)

(usually foll by with) to pierce or perforate with numerous holesriddled with bullets

to damage or impair

to put through a sieve; sift

to fill or pervadethe report was riddled with errors

noun

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

Derived Formsriddler, noun

Word Origin for riddle

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

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

Word Origin and History for riddled

riddle

n.1

"A word game or joke, comprising a question or statement couched in deliberately puzzling terms, propounded for solving by the hearer/reader using clues embedded within that wording" [Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore], early 13c., from Old English rædels "riddle; counsel; conjecture; imagination; discussion," common Germanic (cf. Old Frisian riedsal "riddle," Old Saxon radisli, Middle Dutch raetsel, Dutch raadsel, Old High German radisle, German Rätsel "riddle").

The first element is from Proto-Germanic *redaz-, from PIE *re-dh-, from PIE *re(1)- "to reason, count" (cf. Old English rædan "to advise, counsel, read, guess;" see read (v.)). The ending is Old English noun suffix -els, the -s of which later was mistaken for a plural affix and stripped off. Meaning "anything which puzzles or perplexes" is from late 14c.

riddle

v.1

"perforate with many holes," 1817 (implied in riddled), earlier "sift" (early 13c.), from Middle English ridelle "coarse sieve," from late Old English hriddel "sieve," altered by dissimilation from Old English hridder "sieve" (see riddle (n.2)).

riddle

v.2

"to pose as a riddle," 1570s, from riddle (n.1). Related: Riddled; riddler; riddling.

riddle

n.2

"coarse sieve," mid-14c., alteration of late Old English hriddel, dissimilated from hridder, from Proto-Germanic *hrida- (cf. German Reiter), from PIE root *krei- "to sieve," and thus related to Latin cribrum "sieve, riddle," Greek krinein "to separate, distinguish, decide" (see crisis).