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

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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

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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 If more work is completed but that work is riddled with errors, productivity isn’t improving. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026 Kunkel was found guilty in 1995 for the brutal 1986 murder of Gilbert Fassett, whose body was riddled with more than 100 stab wounds. — ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026 The findings show that the system is riddled with procedural obstacles. — Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026 Photos shared with the jury during the Miami trial showed Moïse’s body riddled with a dozen high-caliber bullets. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 14 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for riddled

Verb

Watson moved Cleveland into field-goal range before Andre Szmyt drilled a 56-yard kick to give the Browns a 27-24 lead.

— Chantz Martin OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Still, after Watson misfired on a third-down throw, the kicker drilled the long field goal.

— Mike DeFabo, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of drilled

Verb

This is a book suffused with beauty, but climate emergency is its undercurrent.

— Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of suffused

Verb

The Madlanga Commission, a judicial inquiry set up after a senior police commander alleged last year that criminality and political interference had penetrated the justice system, has now sat for more than 180 days.

— Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
There were three bullet impacts against the windshield and side of the Airstream, but none of the rounds penetrated the vehicle, the report said.

— James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of penetrated

Verb

His pass set and movements looked more like an art than someone who punched people for a living.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
The suspect allegedly punched the woman with a closed fist before taking her phone and driver's license, then fleeing the scene, according to police.

— Bradford Betz, FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of punched

Verb

Two years later, politics had permeated our homes, our friendships, our classrooms, our morgues.

— Abdelrahman ElGendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
Differences over the war have permeated everything from local political contests to the Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

— Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of permeated

Verb

That notion reached its pinnacle after the Chiefs beat the Bills 32-29 in the AFC Championship Game but was punctured by their 40-22 clobbering at the hands of the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026
As anxiety punctured the tranquility of the suburb, questions bubbled up on everything from the community’s water and pesticide use to abandoned oil wells underneath.

— Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026

Definition of punctured

Verb

Luhring Augustine moved into the 3,500-square-foot space in September 2020, as galleries flooded the neighborhood, lured by the low rents spawned by the Covid-19 crisis.

— News Desk, Artforum, 2 Oct. 2026
Clearly he hasn’t been flooded with offers since that accolade, so his agent has set him up with Lady Isabella, who claims to have a Netflix commission for a bio-doc about her life.

— Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 Oct. 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 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of riddled

verb

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