riddled

verb

past tense of riddle
1
as in drilled
to make a hole or series of holes in several signs along the highway were riddled by buckshot

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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 The administration is riddled with Wall Street executives and conservative economists, but that doesn’t seem to matter. — James K. Glassman, Forbes.com, 12 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 Second Line was my mom — her interludes riddled the album with her depiction of what is meant to be a Creole woman in New Orleans. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026 The multimillion-dollar renovation has been riddled with flawed installation, green algae bloom in the water, and alleged acts of vandalism from the beginning. — Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 4 Aug. 2026 Although 5-MeO-DMT can produce experiences of overwhelming intensity, often interpreted as encounters with ultimate truth, the history of toad smoking is riddled with false leads and misinformation. — Kimon De Greef, Longreads, 4 Aug. 2026 Regardless of what happens next, the near-term path is clearly riddled with obstacles for investors, according to the strategist. — Sarah Min, CNBC, 3 Aug. 2026 Casing the Scene Back at the shooting scene, the white Jeep is riddled with bullets. — Sydney Brownstone, NPR, 2 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled
  1. drilled
  2. suffused
  3. pierced
  4. penetrated
  5. punched
  6. permeated
  7. punctured
  8. flooded
Verb
  • Five minutes later, Temwa Chawinga drilled a ball from outside the 18-yard box that bounced off a Ghana defender and into the net for the equalizer.
    — PJ Green August 9, Kansas City Star, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In reality, the well may be drilled nearly 1 mile deep, and then curved by turning roughly 4 degrees every 100 feet.
    — Jordan Blum, Fortune, 9 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
  • Last month, the image of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo being pinned to the ground, his torso pierced by a bullet, became the latest evocation of that history.
    — Stephania Taladrid, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2026
  • More than 180 bullets pierced, cracked or shattered windows in six buildings on campus.
    — Brenda Goodman, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of pierced
Verb
  • The leaf canopy was so dense that at times only a half-light, a sort of dusky murk, penetrated to the forest floor where the hounds ran.
    — Paul Schullery, Outdoor Life, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The children are dismembered and penetrated, flayed alive, disemboweled, and their intestines set alight.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of penetrated
Verb
  • Two people who saw the surveillance video recognized the man who punched Wilson as Harris, and one knew him from previous assaults in the area, the complaint said.
    — Mara H. Gottfried, Twin Cities, 13 Aug. 2026
  • By Wednesday, Carter said, fallen branches had punched several holes through roofs across the campus, including the administration building.
    — Lila Hempel-Edgers, Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of punched
Verb
  • My work is more permeated by philosophical and spiritual questions.
    — Robbie Griffiths, NPR, 9 Aug. 2026
  • At first, the smell permeated the bedrooms, bringing with it sleepless nights.
    — Celina Tebor, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of permeated
Verb
  • But her neo-yuppie fantasy is punctured when she’s rejected from a business-school summer program.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 4 Aug. 2026
  • People didn’t buy the Old Hollywood Grande of the early 2020s; her headlines punctured the wholesome façade.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of punctured
Verb
  • Roads and dozens of homes were also flooded and some areas remained without power.
    — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The bars are flooded with single people dressed in their sexiest getups and looking vaguely uncomfortable.
    — Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of flooded

Browse Nearby Words

riddle
riddled
riddled (out)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Riddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riddled. Accessed 18 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on riddled

Nglish: Translation of riddled for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of oxymoron

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All