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

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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 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 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
  1. drilled
  2. suffused
  3. pierced
  4. penetrated
  5. punched
  6. permeated
  7. punctured
  8. flooded
Verb
  • The Commanders elected to cut Moody after the first preseason game — a game in which Moody clanked a 29-yarder off the upright and through and Stevens drilled his only attempt, from 41 yards.
    — Barry Svrluga, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Miles of steel cables were drilled at least a foot deep into the mountain rock, to ensure dozens of climbers are safe to traverse the mountainside simultaneously.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 5 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
  • And the beep, beep, beep of the garbage trucks preparing the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for sunrise and another day of tennis pierced the moments of silence.
    — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The bullet pierced the restaurant glass and left a diner with a minor injury.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of pierced
Verb
  • Jefferson had two second-half possessions that penetrated Peach County's 5-yard line and had just three points to show for it.
    — Jack Leo, AJC.com, 4 Sep. 2026
  • But the late-night revelry definitely penetrated the walls of her hotel.
    — Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of penetrated
Verb
  • 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
  • In this case, that means getting a shiner to look like he’s been punched while Kirk tweaks the sensors just enough to put the recovered La’an on the trail of the wrong Kirk.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of punched
Verb
  • 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
  • Naturally, the authors are all Beatles fans who couldn’t help noticing how much their favorite band had permeated the world of science.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 9 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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Cite this Entry

“Riddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riddled. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

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