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 Marcee Gray, the defendant’s estranged wife, testified their son was riddled with anxiety, easily agitated and had panic attacks. — Eric Levenson, CNN Money, 30 July 2026 The dough is thinner, and crisper than an Argentine empanada, with an amber, wonton-like crust riddled with bubbles. — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026 The narrative then jumps forward to a time in the distant future in a segregated Britain, where Black people are condemned to a ghetto riddled with drugs and ruled by gangs. — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 29 July 2026 Holes aren’t even the worst of their problems; many of the garments are increasingly riddled with mold, blood or worse. — Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 27 July 2026 King argued that the United States was a country riddled with political and ideological mechanisms of violence. — Literary Hub, 27 July 2026 The goal is to kill the incentive to spam in the first place, while also cutting out the résumé-screening stage entirely—a step Chait says is riddled with bias and adds roughly six days to the hiring process for little real benefit. — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 27 July 2026 The Warriors have long fallen off their lofty perch above the rest of the league since winning the 2022 title, and recently suffered through a 37-45 season riddled with injuries. — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 24 July 2026 Wells' parents say the tragedy is riddled with conflicting stories and missing details. — ABC News, 22 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled

Verb

The 29-year-old bopper has drilled 26 home runs against right-handed pitching, 19 at home and 15 at home against righties in 2026.

— Josh Shepardson, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2026
The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which monitors and approves wells across the state, said staff have counted eight wells drilled without the office’s permission along the southern border, but cautioned there could be more.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of drilled

Verb

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
Good binoculars will reveal a score of stars in this little group, while long-exposure observatory photographs show about 1000 in the area — all suffused in great clouds and streamers of nebulous light.

— Joe Rao, Space.com, 10 July 2026

Definition of suffused

Verb

According to the artist who made it, John Buckley, and the owner of the home pierced by the shark, Bill Heine, the work was meant as a protest against the recent bombing of Libya, nuclear power and nuclear war, among other things.

— Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026
In his season of DWTS, Irwin opened up about navigating grief after the death of his father Steve Irwin, who died in 2006 after being pierced by a stingray barb.

— Yamillah Hurtado, PEOPLE, 21 July 2026

Definition of pierced

Verb

OpenAI reported that models being tested on a cybersecurity benchmark found a way out of an isolated environment, obtained internet access and penetrated Hugging Face infrastructure.

— Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
All of these appeared to originate at boundaries between tiles, suggesting hot gas may have penetrated these boundaries.

— Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 27 July 2026

Definition of penetrated

Verb

Despite being confined to her bed, covered in tubes, tangled in wires, despite being separated by gloves and masks and isolation gowns, our laughter permeated all those barriers.

— Anna Tsioulias, STAT, 29 July 2026
In 2025, anxiety permeated Indianapolis as the All-Star Weekend kicked off a contentious period of CBA negotiations.

— Sabreena Merchant, New York Times, 26 July 2026

Definition of permeated

Verb

People didn’t buy the Old Hollywood Grande of the early 2020s; her headlines punctured the wholesome façade.

— Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
Images of Russian delivery warehouses and refineries ablaze have punctured the veneer of safety Moscow has tried to maintain four years into the war.

— Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 31 July 2026

Definition of punctured

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 6 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of riddled

verb

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