RIDDLED Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

riddled

verb

past tense of riddle

as in drilled

to make a hole or series of holes in several signs along the highway were riddled by buckshot

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in suffused

to spread throughout the newspaper exposé revealed a gaming commission that is riddled with corruption

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of riddled Trump regularly makes false claims that elections are rigged and riddled with fraud, especially in the months before an election. — Eric Tucker, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026 Photos shared with the jury during the Miami trial showed Moïse’s body riddled with a dozen high-caliber bullets. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 14 Sep. 2026 Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, falsely claiming it's riddled with fraud, despite having voted by mail himself. — ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026 Soon, an Israeli checkpoint comes into view, where soldiers stand watch from the balconies of homes riddled with shrapnel. — Zeena Saifi, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026 There were respected former Metro homicide detectives Brent Becker and Dan Long, both gone gray, who had carried the burden of the unsolved murder, one riddled with conflicted characters on all sides. — John L. Smith, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2026 But even that case was riddled with conspiracy theories, including one that accused Simpson’s son Jason of killing his stepmom and her friend. — Addie Morfoot, Variety, 28 Aug. 2026 Gardner remembers watching the film, in which Freeman’s Principal Clark turns around a New Jersey school riddled with crime, drugs and low test scores. — Darcel Rockett, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026 For me, as a child grappling with loss, my imagination became my escape from a world that was riddled with confusion and injustice. — Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled

Verb

In the bottom of the second, Andrew Knizner drilled a two-run shot to left off Nick Pivetta to cut the Giants’ deficit to 5-2.

— ABC News, ABC News, 13 Sep. 2026
Here against Hull, Suzuki drilled a low pass into Jackson’s feet.

— Aston Villa, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of drilled

Verb

After setting her wildly popular debut The Tiger's Wife in a Balkans suffused with myth and magic, the author turned in subsequent books to the Old West and a city redolent of New York.

— Colin Dwyer, NPR, 4 Aug. 2026
The threat is still there, suffused into the air like a memory, but for a time the choice between love and survival no longer feels mutually exclusive to Nino and Yasmina.

— David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 22 July 2026

Definition of suffused

Verb

On the second episode Caitlin’s dad gets his ears pierced for the first time.

— Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2026
Roma arrived at the World Trade Center while both towers stood defiantly tall, each pierced by Boeing 767s, bleeding with jet fuel and spewing smoke that promised to eventually bring them down.

— Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of pierced

Verb

One punched him in the face, and another stabbed him once in the buttocks, police said.

— Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 14 Sep. 2026
After the Giants punched their ticket by sweeping two games from the Ports, Haines confirmed that Flora would take the ball one more time in next week’s best-of-3 series against Lake Elsinore.

— Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of punched

Verb

For both job seekers and employers, AI has already permeated almost every step of the hiring process, from evaluating resumes to writing cover letters.

— Sophie Caldwell Juhohn Lee, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
The Delta flight, which was carrying 235 people, had safely made an emergency landing after a smoky smell permeated the cabin.

— Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of permeated

Verb

The needle accidentally punctured Taylor’s lung, causing chest pain and difficulty breathing.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
The crash broke more than a dozen ribs, punctured her lungs and left her with spinal cord injuries that left her in a wheelchair.

— Joshua Goodman, Fortune, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of punctured

Verb

While images of destruction flooded social media, 68-year-old Chris White, a lifelong resident of Kauai and the owner of a rental home in Poipu, noted that much of the island was spared significant damage.

— GENE JOHNSON, Arkansas Online, 12 Sep. 2026
This week, warnings about RSI flooded social media from researchers at both leading labs, following Jacob Coxon's explosive resignation.

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of flooded

Browse Nearby Words

riddle

riddled

riddled (out)

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“Riddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riddled. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of riddled

verb

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