riddle

Word family

Related topics: Tools

rid·dle1 /ˈrɪdl/ noun [countableC]

1 MYSTERIOUSa question that is deliberately very confusing and has a humorous or clever answer 谜，谜语 → puzzle

See if you can solve this riddle.

看看你能不能猜出这个谜语。

2 MYSTERIOUSsomething that you do not understand and cannot explain 谜团，奥秘，费解之事 SYN puzzle, mystery

riddle of

The police have been unable to solve the riddle of her disappearance.

警方至今未能解开她的失踪之谜。

3 talk/speak in riddles to say things in a mysterious way that other people cannot understand 打哑谜〔指说话让人难以理解〕

Stop talking in riddles and explain what’s going on!

别打哑谜了，说说是怎么回事！

Examples from the Corpus

talk/speak in riddles• When Tweedledum and Tweedledee talk to Alice they are almost talking in riddles.• She is described by the Argive elders as speaking in riddles because they fail to understand her predictions.• She talked in comparisons, she spoke in riddles.• She wished people wouldn't talk in riddles.

4. TZa wire container with holes in it that is used to separate earth from stones 〔筛分土石的〕粗筛

Examples from the Corpus

riddle• The package includes a pack of cards and a booklet which has a riddle running through its pages.• Why would Ian want to claim his inheritance and then give all his money away? It was a riddle to me.• The chameleon on a mirror riddle is best kept in idealized form as a thought experiment.• But how many have ever stopped to consider this particular riddle?• Because he spoke riddles in verse, or because he didn't believe the story of Flodden?• I looked into the mirror, searching once again into the riddle of my face.• How could he make sense of it all unless he could first solve the riddle of himself?• Other interviewers who have met Geri have tried to solve the riddle of her success.• How do we solve the riddle of the disappearing marriage?• Oedipus came to Thebes and solved the riddle of the Sphinx.• On his wanderings Oedipus came to Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and thus delivered the city.• Doctors have found a new clue to the riddle of cot death.

solve ... riddle• Solve the riddle of this verse, Or suffer Ariaca's curse!• As if a degree could solve the riddle of Comrade Cancer.• How could he make sense of it all unless he could first solve the riddle of himself?• On his wanderings Oedipus came to Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and thus delivered the city.• Yet we have been programmed to be curious, to question, to probe and to seek to solve riddles.• Vechey probably carried the vases around trying to solve the riddle.

solve ... riddle• Solve the riddle of this verse, Or suffer Ariaca's curse!• As if a degree could solve the riddle of Comrade Cancer.• How could he make sense of it all unless he could first solve the riddle of himself?• On his wanderings Oedipus came to Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and thus delivered the city.• Vechey probably carried the vases around trying to solve the riddle.

riddle2 verb [transitiveT]

1 HOLEto make a lot of small holes in something 在…上弄许多小洞

Two gunmen riddled the bus with gunfire.

两个持枪歹徒把公共汽车打得千疮百孔。

2. FIREto shake the coal or wood in a fire, in order to remove ashes 摇动〔炉栅〕使灰落下

Examples from the Corpus

riddle• Unfortunately, the resulting shot called for the 2-iron, a club now riddled in dispute.• Gunmen riddled the bus with bullets.• The female self, under male domination, is riddled through and through with false or conditioned desires.• Even if they had the space, the concept is riddled with conflict.• This is a field riddled with dilemmas.• Jobs in the state sector are allocated by examination, but in reality the system is riddled with nepotism and clientism.• However, unconsciously I must have been riddled with remorse for so neglecting my duties.• The Supercontinent Cycle alone has left the continental crust riddled with the scars of former rifts and mergers.

Origin riddle1

Old English rædelse “opinion, guess, riddle”

riddle2

(1200-1300) riddle “sieve” ((11-21 centuries)), from Old English hriddel

rid·dle1 nounriddle2 verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus