riddle
Syllables: rid·dle/ˈɹɪdəl/
riddle noun: a verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
Noun (1)
riddle (plural riddles)
- A verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
- Here's a riddle: It's black, and white, and red all over. What is it?
- 12 ¶ And Samson said vnto them, I will now put foorth a riddle vnto you: if you can certeinly declare it me, within the seuen dayes of the feast, and finde it out, then I will giue you thirtie sheetes, and thirtie change of garments:
- 13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall yee giue me thirtie sheetes, and thirtie change of garments. And they said vnto him, Put foorth thy riddle, that we may heare it.
- 14 And hee said vnto them, Out of the eater came foorth meate, aud out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse. And they could not in three dayes expound the riddle.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 14:12–14
- Synonyms:
- enigma, conundrum, brain-teaser
- An ancient verbal, poetic, or literary form, in which, rather than a rhyme scheme, there are parallel opposing expressions with a hidden meaning.
Verb (1)
riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)
- To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.
- To solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question.
- Riddle me this.
- Synonyms:
- decipher, puzzle out, unriddle, absolve, get to the bottom of, iron out, meliorate, ravel, reason out, resolve
Noun (2)
riddle (plural riddles)
- A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.
- A board with a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.
Verb (2)
riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)
- To put something through a riddle or sieve; to sieve; to sift.
- You have to riddle the gravel before you lay it on the road.
- In its finest form – two years old or more – leaf mould can be riddled (sieved) and used, mixed 50/50 with sand, to make fine potting compost for seeds and cuttings.2014 April 8, Helen Yemm, “Thorny problems: How can I revive a forsythia hedge? [print version 5 April 2014, p. G9]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), London
- To fill with holes like a riddle.
- The shots from his gun began to riddle the targets.
- New Alresford is constantly mispronounced, T-shaped, honeycombed with cellars, packed with antique shops, riddled with woodworm, surrounded by watercress. The name - which means 'ford by the alders' - is pronounced 'Allsford'; and no one ever uses 'New', though they do call the adjoining village...1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 144
- To fill or spread throughout; to pervade (with something destructive or weakening).
- Your argument is riddled with errors.
- O perplex'd diſcompoſition, O ridling diſtemper, O miſerable condition of Man.1624, John Donne, “1. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 8
- Synonyms:
- litter
Noun (3)
riddle (plural riddles)
- A curtain; bedcurtain.
- One of the pair of curtains enclosing an altar on the north and south.
Verb (3)
riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)
- To plait.
Proper noun capitalized: Riddle
Riddle
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Owyhee County, Idaho.
- An unincorporated community in Ohio Township, Crawford County, Indiana, named after George Washington Riddle.
- A city in Douglas County, Oregon.
- An unincorporated community in Ritchie County, West Virginia.
riddle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
riddle in Hindi
- verbal puzzle
- पहेली pahelī, बुझोवल bujhoval, समस्या samasyā, रहस्य rahasya, राज़ rāz, राज rāj
riddle in Tamil
- விடுகதை, புதிர்
riddle in Marathi
- riddle, rhyme
- उखाणा ukhāṇā
riddle in Urdu
- verbal puzzle
- پہیلی pahelī, معما mu'ammā
More languagesFewer languages
- riddle in Bengali
- ধাঁধা, গোপন প্রশ্ন
- riddle in Telugu
- పొడుపుకథ poḍupukatha
- riddle in Malayalam
- കടങ്കഥ kaṭaṅkatha
- riddle in Kannada
- ಮುಂಡಿಗೆ, ಒಡಗತೆ, ಒಗಟು, ಒಗಟೆ
- riddle in Sanskrit
- प्रहेलिका prahelikā
- riddle in Assamese
- সাঁথৰ xãthor
- riddle in Pashto
- معما ma'mã
- riddle in Tagalog
- bugtong
- riddle in Arabic
- لُغْز luḡz, أُحْجِيَّة ʔuḥjiyya, مُعْضِلَة muʕḍila
- riddle in Malay
- teka-teki
- riddle in Indonesian
- teka-teki
- riddle in Persian
- چیستان čistân, معما mo'ammâ
- riddle in Thai
- ปริศนา bprìt-sà-nǎa
- riddle in Vietnamese
- câu đố
- riddle in Myanmar
- စကားထာ ca.ka:hta
Examples of riddle in a sentence
- To wring from me and tell to them my ſecret, / That ſolv'd the riddle which I had propos'd.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […]...
- I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- I'm a riddle so strong, you can't break me1992, “Rain When I Die”, performed by Alice in Chains:
- New Alresford is constantly mispronounced, T-shaped, honeycombed with cellars, packed with antique shops, riddled with woodworm, surrounded by watercress.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 144:
Synonyms of riddle
- enigma
- conundrum
- brain-teaser
- decipher
- puzzle out
- unriddle
- get to the bottom of
- iron out
- meliorate
- reason out
13 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of riddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | riddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | riddles |
| present participle | riddling |
| past participle | riddled |
| past | riddled |
Origin of riddle
From Middle English redel, redels, from Old English rǣdels, rǣdelse (“counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādislī (“counsel, conjecture”). Analyzable as rede (“advice”) + -le. Akin to Old English rǣdan (“to read, advise, interpret”). Cognate with Dutch raadsel, German Rätsel.
From Middle English riddil, ridelle (“sieve”), from Old English hriddel (“sieve”), alteration of earlier hridder, hrīder, from Proto-West Germanic *hrīdrā, from Proto-Germanic *hrīdrą, *hrīdrǭ (“sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrid- (“to shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Akin to German Reiter (“sieve”), Old Norse hreinn (“pure, clean”), Old High German hreini (“pure, clean”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean, pure”). More at rinse.
From Middle English riddel, ridel, redel, rudel, from Old French ridel ("a plaited stuff; curtain"; > Medieval Latin ridellus), from rider (“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan (“to turn; wrap; twist; wrinkle”). More at writhe. Doublet of rideau.
Words formed from riddle
Phrases with riddle
Words that rhyme with riddle
Questions about riddle
- What does riddle mean?
- Riddle means a verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
- What is riddle in Hindi?
- Riddle in Hindi is पहेली (pahelī), बुझोवल (bujhoval), समस्या (samasyā). See Riddle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use riddle in a sentence?
- To wring from me and tell to them my ſecret, / That ſolv'd the riddle which I had propos'd.
- What part of speech is riddle?
- Riddle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce riddle?
- Riddle is pronounced /ˈɹɪdəl/.
- What is the plural of riddle?
- The plural of riddle is riddles.
Words near riddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: riddle (page history and authors); Riddle (page history and authors); riddle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उखाणा (Marathi) (page history and authors); riddle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); పొడుపుకథ (Telugu) (page history and authors); കടങ്കഥ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); riddle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); प्रहेलिका (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “riddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/riddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.