Word
riddled
Phoneticsrid·dled
US/ˈɹɪdəɫd/
UK/ɹˈɪdəld/
Definition
adj. full of something bad or unpleasant, like mistakes or holes. You use it to describe something that is damaged or very messy.
adj. permeated or filled with something undesirable, such as errors, disease, or bullet holes. Often used predicatively after a linking verb or as a participial adjective modifying a noun.
Examples
“The old wooden fence is riddled with holes.”
“The first draft of the report was riddled with spelling errors and factual inconsistencies.”
“The historian argued that the administration was so riddled with corruption that no single reform could have prevented the eventual collapse of the institution.”
Examples
simple
“The old wooden fence is riddled with holes.”
contextual
“The first draft of the report was riddled with spelling errors and factual inconsistencies.”
complex
“The historian argued that the administration was so riddled with corruption that no single reform could have prevented the eventual collapse of the institution.”
Usage
Typically followed by the preposition 'with' and a noun phrase describing the negative quality.
Pitfall
The wall was riddled of bullets
The wall was riddled with bullets
Riddled always takes the preposition 'with' to indicate what it is full of.
Real-World Examples
“And I was beginning to understand that the system is riddled with restrictions that only make life harder for families like us.” “As in Atkinson’s 2018 spy-themed novel Transcription , we are in a murky, plucky, postwar Britain that’s riddled with secrets.” Scan code
englishreference.com/q/riddled