as in mystery
something hard to understand or explain
his motives for starting an argument with the coach were a complete riddle
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in to drill
to make a hole or series of holes in
several signs along the highway were riddled by buckshot
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to penetrate
to spread throughout
the newspaper exposé revealed a gaming commission that is riddled with corruption
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of riddle
Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025
Each puzzle book is 32 pages and has a wide variety of puzzles, including sticker puzzles, word searches, Mad Libs–style storytelling, and riddles.
—Adrienne So, Wired News, 17 May 2025
Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 3 June 2025
For tech enthusiasts, this incident was riddled with warning signs, starting with the dubious website.
—ArsTechnica, 3 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for riddle
Noun
Worth just a cent but costing nearly four times that to produce, the fiscal riddle of the penny has long been a paradox of the federal government.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025
Each puzzle book is 32 pages and has a wide variety of puzzles, including sticker puzzles, word searches, Mad Libs–style storytelling, and riddles.
—Adrienne So, Wired News, 17 May 2025
Verb
Lamar Odom’s life has been riddled with controversy over the last decade or so.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 3 June 2025
For tech enthusiasts, this incident was riddled with warning signs, starting with the dubious website.
—ArsTechnica, 3 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for riddle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddle
Noun
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With the entire dataset open to the public, the team hopes the fresh eyes, as well as graduate and undergraduate astronomers, will uncover something new and unlock clues about cosmic mysteries like dark matter and the physics of the early universe.—
Jay Kakade
June 22,
New Atlas,
22 June 2025
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But two new studies — which researchers say are among the biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year — detail how scientists were able to extract genetic material from the fossil and help unravel this biological mystery.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
21 June 2025
Verb
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Siakam drilled a 3 in the fourth quarter to help pull the Pacers within two, but the mistakes started piling up again.—
Shakeia Taylor,
New York Times,
17 June 2025
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This means fewer unproductive wells could be drilled, which would minimize the environmental impact of exploration.—
Jay R. Young,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Verb
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The key is its ability to penetrate the skin beyond the surface barrier.—
Kaleigh Werner,
Footwear News,
20 June 2025
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Microneedling produces tiny wounds in the skin that allow topical medications to penetrate more deeply while stimulating collagen production and the release of growth factors.—
Heather Jones,
Verywell Health,
19 June 2025
Noun
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The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone.—
Mark Cooper,
New York Times,
20 June 2025
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The show’s title refers to these haunting clues — a sequence of nine puzzle pieces, each foretelling a new murder, and each fitting into a larger picture that gradually reveals the truth behind a decade-old cover-up.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
19 June 2025
Verb
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In a completely spontaneous decision, Flom sat down and got one of his ears pierced with a sparkling stud, and Haven’s reaction was priceless.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
15 June 2025
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She was never seen alive again A handsome stranger with piercing blue eyes asked them for rides.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
14 June 2025
Verb
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This is Kweller’s first new album since his sixteen-year-old son, Dorian, was killed in a car accident two years ago, and the song is suffused with grief, though not in a particularly explicit way.—
Marina Harss,
New Yorker,
13 June 2025
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Fifty-three industrial plants are invited to squat there, in the center of the city, and the smell of decomposition and putrefaction and acidification, a stew of sulfur, chlorine, lye, and ammonia, suffuses the air.—
Caroline Fraser
June 10,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2025
Noun
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But Bryan was widely seen as suffering a humiliating defeat in public opinion, with his sputtering attempts to explain the Bible’s fanciful miracles and enigmas.—
Peter Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2025
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Bacon’s Castle was originally built by Arthur Allen, who remains something of an enigma to historians, according to the National Park Service.—
Mark Price,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2025
Verb
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The company has achieved its traction with just five employees, all based in San Francisco, leveraging AI tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude to punch above their weight class.—
Josipa Majic Predin,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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Today's talkers Coastal Carolina is the first team in the College World Series to punch its ticket to the semifinals.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA Today,
17 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Riddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riddle. Accessed 27 Jun. 2025.
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