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 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 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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled

Verb

Ehudin drilled a 5 iron to about 10 feet, but missed his birdie putt.

— Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 31 Aug. 2026
Rescuers drilled at the tunnels to send trapped workers food and oxygen masks.

— Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 31 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

The bullet pierced the restaurant glass and left a diner with a minor injury.

— Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2026
The morning following the storm, co-owner James Durawa told WISN 12 News that a tree pierced part of the restaurant's tin roof and would cost about $18,000 to remove.

— Rachel Bernhard, jsonline.com, 28 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

Given that the project is discussed in terms of atomic bombs, and given that grassroots opposition to data centers appears to have permeated every region of the country, such a project might seem daunting, if not impossible, to many developers.

— Melanie Stetson Freeman, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Sep. 2026
James’ melodies seem to materialize and unspool, an unforced reclamation of the mystery that once permeated his writing.

— Ryan Leas, Pitchfork, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of permeated

Verb

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
Her joy at having another child was quickly punctured by grief, as her 20-year-old son, Daniel, died suddenly three days later while visiting his mother and newborn half-sister in the hospital.

— Imani Sumbi, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of punctured

Verb

Culture news and the SoCal scene The internet was flooded with news out of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art this week as an embargo lifted on coverage from inside the new 300,000-square-foot building in Exposition Park.

— Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
It initially was allowed onto the ballot, and its young supporters flooded social media with videos promoting the party.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of flooded

Browse Nearby Words

riddle

riddled

riddled (out)

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Style

“Riddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riddled. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of riddled

verb

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