riddled

English

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɪdəld/

Verb

riddled

  1. simple past and past participle of riddle

Adjective

riddled (comparative more riddled, superlative most riddled)

  1. Damaged throughout by holes.
  2. Having (something) spread throughout, as if by an infestation.
    1. Taking a noun complement construed with the preposition with.
      Synonym: lousy with
      Coordinate term: peppered with
      The minister claimed that the old benefits system was riddled with abuse and fraud.
      • 2023 November 17, Blake Montgomery, “White House condemns Elon Musk’s ‘abhorrent’ antisemitic tweets”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
        Another anti-extremism organization, The Center for Countering Digital Hate, filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by X on Thursday, calling the suit “riddled with legal deficiencies”.
    2. Taking a noun complement that precedes the adjective, forming a compound.
      Synonym: -ridden
      a hole-riddled sweater
      • 2008, Joan London, The Good Parents, Random House Australia, →ISBN, page 235:
        They took a swig each from an old bottle of sherry and ate some stale digestive biscuits sealed in a tin in the mouse-riddled cupboards.

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