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Another word for riddle

a-z
Noun

  1. Anything that arouses curiosity or perplexes because it is unexplained, inexplicable, or secret

      1. Any puzzling question or problem
      2. A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma:
      3. A riddle whose answer contains a pun (Ex.: What's the difference between a jeweler and a jailer? One sells watches and the other watches cells.)
      1. One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.
      2. A perplexing, usually ambiguous, statement; riddle
      3. A perplexing, baffling, or seemingly inexplicable matter, person, etc.
      1. A novel, story, or play involving such an event, esp. one involving a crime and the gradual discovery of who committed it
      2. The skills, lore, or practices that are peculiar to a particular activity or group and are regarded as the special province of initiates:
      3. A mystery play.
      1. The condition of being perplexed; bewilderment; confusion
      2. Something that perplexes:
      3. Something that is perplexed, or complicated
      1. Something that baffles or confuses; an enigma:
      2. Something, such as a game, toy, or problem, that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling.
      3. A jigsaw puzzle.
      1. One who solves puzzles as a hobby.
      2. A puzzling situation or problem; an enigma.
      3. (Video games) A video game in which the player is presented with (usually abstract) puzzles to solve.
    See also:

    show

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for riddle

Noun

  1. A difficult problem

      1. A question proposed for solution or consideration
      2. A question to be considered, solved, or answered:
      3. A question, matter, situation, or person that is perplexing or difficult
      1. A toy or problem for testing cleverness, skill, or ingenuity; often, specif., jigsaw puzzle
      2. A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
      3. A question, problem, etc. that puzzles
      1. Doubt; uncertainty
      2. A matter of concern or difficulty; a problem:
      3. Uncertainty; doubt:
      1. A condition of uncertainty
      2. A point about which one is uncertain or skeptical:
      3. The condition of being unsettled or unresolved:
      1. A state of uncertainty; perplexing situation or position; dilemma
      1. Any situation in which one must choose between unpleasant alternatives
      2. (Usage Problem) A problem that seems to defy a satisfactory solution.
      3. Any serious problem
      1. Financial difficulty:
      2. The act or an instance of embarrassing:
      3. A source or cause of being embarrassed:
      1. Something that perplexes:
      2. Something that is perplexed, or complicated
      3. The condition of being perplexed; bewilderment; confusion
      1. A perplexing, usually ambiguous, statement; riddle
      2. One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.
      3. A perplexing, baffling, or seemingly inexplicable matter, person, etc.
      1. Failure to distinguish between things
      2. (Psychology) Impaired orientation with respect to time, place, or person; a disturbed mental state.
      3. The act of confusing or the state of being confused:
      1. A factor, condition, or element that complicates.
      2. A complicated condition or structure; complex, involved, or confused relationship of parts
      3. (Medicine) A secondary disease, an accident, or a negative reaction occurring during the course of an illness and usually aggravating the illness.
      1. Anything complex or intricate; complication
      2. (Countable) That which is and renders complex; intricacy; complication.
      3. Something complex:
      1. Something intricate; involved matter, proceeding, etc.
      2. Something intricate:
      3. That which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot.
      1. A narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water:
      2. A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need:
      3. Difficulty; distress
      1. An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.
      2. A structure consisting of an intricate network of winding passages bordered as by walls or hedges; specif., such a structure designed for prayer and meditation: technically, a labyrinth (unlike a maze) contains no dead ends and consists of a single path leading to a center
      3. Something highly intricate or convoluted in character, composition, or construction:
      1. (Archaic) category
      2. (Logic) One of the basic states or classifications described by Aristotle into which all things can be placed; a category.
      3. A condition or situation, now specif. one that is difficult, unpleasant, embarrassing, or, sometimes, comical
      1. A solemn pledge, as of faith.
      2. A condition or state of affairs; esp., now, an awkward, sad, or dangerous situation
      3. A situation, especially a bad or unfortunate one.
      1. Something that makes it difficult to pay attention or that draws attention away from familiar or everyday concerns:
      2. The process of being distracted.
      3. The act of distracting, or the condition of being distracted:
      1. A confusing or perplexing situation.
      2. The condition of being confused or disoriented.
      3. The fact or condition of being bewildered
    See also:

    puzzle

    Antonyms:

  2. An obscure question to be solved for amusement

      1. A novel, story, or play involving such an event, esp. one involving a crime and the gradual discovery of who committed it
      2. The skills, lore, or practices that are peculiar to a particular activity or group and are regarded as the special province of initiates:
      3. A mystery play.
      1. A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma:
      2. Any puzzling question or problem
      3. A riddle whose answer contains a pun (Ex.: What's the difference between a jeweler and a jailer? One sells watches and the other watches cells.)
      1. Something that baffles or confuses; an enigma:
      2. Something, such as a game, toy, or problem, that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling.
      3. A jigsaw puzzle.
      1. A perplexing, usually ambiguous, statement; riddle
      2. One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.
      3. A perplexing, baffling, or seemingly inexplicable matter, person, etc.
      1. A word or phrase acted out or described as in verse, for others to guess
      2. A game in which two teams compete to see which can more quickly guess a group of words or phrases chosen by the other team and acted out in pantomime, often syllable by syllable, by the members of their own
      3. (In plural) A party game in which players mime a word or phrase that the other players must try to guess.
      1. A kind of puzzle consisting of pictures of objects, signs, letters, etc., the combination of whose names suggests words or phrases
      2. A representation of words in the form of pictures or symbols, often presented as a puzzle.
    Antonyms:
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • Riddle, Life of Benjamin F.

  • Fred couldn't resist a mystery and here was a riddle on-site.

  • The story of the sphinx's riddle first occurs in the Greek tragedians.

  • The upper end contains a perforated riddle plate which is placed directly over the riffle box, and under certain circumstances mercury may be placed behind the riffles.

  • At the same time he admits, firstly, that to mark the barrier between unconscious and conscious is difficult; secondly, that it is impossible to trace the first beginning of consciousness in the lower animals; and, thirdly, that " however certain we are of the fact of this natural evolution of consciousness, we are, unfortunately, not yet in a position to enter more deeply into the question " (Riddle of the Universe, 191).

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