riddle

5 definitions • 4 examples

a type of question that describes something in a difficult and confusing way and has a clever or funny answer, often asked as a game

something that is confusing, or a problem that is difficult to solve:

Scientists may have solved the riddle of Saturn's rings.

to make a lot of holes in something:

The anti-aircraft guns riddled the plane's wings with bullets.

a question that has a surprising or amusing answer, or something that is a mystery or is hard to explain:

Scholars have not completely solved the riddle of the sphinx.

to make a lot of holes in something:

By the end of the game we had riddled the wall around the dartboard with a dozen little holes.