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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 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 Projected on a large screen was a map riddled with bizarre errors. — ABC News, 21 Aug. 2026 The Commanders’ training camp has been riddled with soft tissue injuries, and many of them to key players. — Nicki Jhabvala, New York Times, 21 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 Twelve days later, Rajab’s body was found in a car riddled with bullets. — Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026 Current legal avenues are also riddled with loopholes, as Big Tech fights them in court, claiming that some laws infringe on free speech. — Allyson Kapin, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Worse than that, real-world sensor data is often so ambiguous, incomplete, and riddled with noise that the only way to describe it is borderline chaotic. — David Szondy august 11, New Atlas, 11 Aug. 2026 But the squabble over the Brooklyn Village development is another mark in the neighborhood’s history that’s riddled with government interference and disinvestment. — Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled

Verb

This is out of kilter with the other younger referees coming through, who either lack personality or have been drilled not to show it.

— Graham Scott, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
And when teammate Harrison Butker drilled a 69-yard field goal, Mahomes literally jumped for joy during the game in Tampa, Florida.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 23 Aug. 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

Her brown leather jacket was pierced with 60 stab wounds, and her throat had been slashed nearly ear to ear.

— Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Investigators believe the bullet that pierced the restaurant window was fired from inside a passing vehicle on Vista Village Drive.

— Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of pierced

Verb

On August 7, the Oregon governor’s office confirmed hackers had penetrated the core control systems of an Oregon water district.

— John Caruso, Hartford Courant, 20 Aug. 2026
The Mughals were heavily outnumbered by the Afghans but had penetrated the opposing army from the side and rear, causing great losses in Hemu’s army.

— Tamanna Nangia, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of penetrated

Verb

The first arrest came in May 2025, after Rodriguez allegedly punched his father in the face when asked to turn off his loud music, according to court records.

— Harry Harris, Mercury News, 26 Aug. 2026
Police say Moore stole cash from a woman, then punched her and a second woman when he was confronted.

— Jessica Riley, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of punched

Verb

James’ melodies seem to materialize and unspool, an unforced reclamation of the mystery that once permeated his writing.

— Ryan Leas, Pitchfork, 28 Aug. 2026
For decades after India’s independence, suspicion of the United States permeated the Indian political class, defense establishment, bureaucracy, and scientific community.

— C. Raja Mohan, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of permeated

Verb

The solar panel that powers the camera was punctured and shattered.

— Haley Parsley August 22, Sacbee.com, 22 Aug. 2026
The barrel had been punctured several times and dumped far offshore, Spencer said, but whoever discarded the remains likely never imagined the reservoir’s shoreline would one day retract hundreds of feet.

— Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of punctured

Verb

Meta is rolling out an obvious fix to make its AI glasses less creepy amid backlash over the glasses’ non-consensual recordings that have flooded the Internet.

— Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026
But New Yorkers flooded social media after news broke, and eventually a petition was made in an effort to save the theater.

— Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 28 Aug. 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 30 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of riddled

verb

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