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Secret vs. Riddle — What's the Difference?

Secret vs. Riddle — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Secret and Riddle

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Secret

Not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others
How did you guess I'd got a secret plan?
The resupply effort was probably kept secret from Congress

Riddle

A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.

Secret

Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others
A state secret
At first I tried to keep it a secret from my wife

Riddle

To pierce with numerous holes; perforate
Riddle a target with bullets.

Secret

Kept hidden from knowledge or view; concealed
A secret identity.
A secret passageway.
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Riddle

To spread throughout
"Election campaigns have always been riddled with demagogy and worse" (New Republic).

Secret

Not expressed; inward
Secret desires.

Riddle

To put (gravel, for example) through a coarse sieve.

Secret

Given to keeping one's thoughts and activities unknown to others; secretive
"Scrooge ... was secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster" (Charles Dickens).

Riddle

To solve or explain.

Secret

Not revealing a secret or not given to revealing secrets
"She boasted ... that he did tell her. But he didn't. He was secret as the grave" (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala).

Riddle

To propound or solve riddles.

Secret

Operating in a hidden or confidential manner
A secret commission.
A secret agent.

Riddle

To speak in riddles.

Secret

Containing information, the unauthorized disclosure of which poses a grave threat to national security.

Riddle

A coarse sieve, as for gravel.

Secret

Not much visited; secluded
A secret hiding place.

Riddle

A question or statement requiring thought to answer or understand; a conundrum.

Secret

Known or shared only by the initiated
Secret rites.

Riddle

One that is perplexing; an enigma.

Secret

Beyond ordinary understanding; mysterious
"like Pan, calling out with his flute to come join in on the secret chaos of the world" (Rick Bass).

Riddle

A verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
Here's a riddle: It's black, and white, and red all over. What is it?

Secret

Something that is kept out of the knowledge or sight of others or is known only to oneself or a few
Wanted to have no secrets between them.

Riddle

An ancient verbal, poetic, or literary form, in which, rather than a rhyme scheme, there are parallel opposing expressions with a hidden meaning.

Secret

Something that remains beyond understanding or explanation; a mystery
Unlocking the secrets of the atom.

Riddle

A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.

Secret

A method or formula for doing or making something well, especially when not widely known
The secret of this dish is in the sauce.

Riddle

A board with a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.

Secret

Secret A variable prayer said after the Offertory and before the Preface in the Mass.

Riddle

(obsolete) A curtain; bedcurtain.

Secret

(countable) A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
"Can you keep a secret?" "Yes." "So can I."

Riddle

(religious) One of the pair of curtains enclosing an altar on the north and south.

Secret

The key or principle by which something is made clear; the knack.
The secret to a long-lasting marriage is compromise.

Riddle

To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.

Secret

Something not understood or known.

Riddle

(transitive) To solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question.
Riddle me this.

Secret

(uncountable) Private seclusion.
The work was done in secret, so that nobody could object.

Riddle

To put something through a riddle or sieve; to sieve; to sift.
You have to riddle the gravel before you lay it on the road.

Secret

The genital organs.

Riddle

To fill with holes like a riddle.
The shots from his gun began to riddle the targets.

Secret

(historical) A form of steel skullcap.

Riddle

To fill or spread throughout; to pervade.
Your argument is riddled with errors.

Secret

Any prayer spoken inaudibly and not aloud; especially, one of the prayers in the Mass, immediately following the "orate, fratres", said inaudibly by the celebrant.

Riddle

To plait.

Secret

Being or kept hidden.
We went down a secret passage.

Riddle

A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.

Secret

(obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.

Riddle

A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.

Secret

(obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.

Riddle

Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything ambiguous or puzzling.
To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret,That solved the riddle which I had proposed.
'T was a strange riddle of a lady.

Secret

(obsolete) Separate; distinct.

Riddle

To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.

Secret

(transitive) To make or keep secret.

Riddle

To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.

Secret

(transitive) To hide secretly.
He was so scared for his safety he secreted arms around the house.

Riddle

To explain; to solve; to unriddle.
Riddle me this, and guess him if you can.

Secret

Hidden; concealed; as, secret treasure; secret plans; a secret vow.
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.

Riddle

To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.

Secret

Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
There, secret in her sapphire cell,He with the Naïs wont to dwell.

Riddle

A difficult problem

Secret

Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
Secret Romans, that have spoke the word,And will not palter.

Riddle

A coarse sieve (as for gravel)

Secret

Separate; distinct.
They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.

Riddle

Pierce many times;
The bullets riddled his body

Secret

Something studiously concealed; a thing kept from general knowledge; what is not revealed, or not to be revealed.
To tell our own secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.

Riddle

Set a difficult problem or riddle;
Riddle me a riddle

Secret

A thing not discovered; what is unknown or unexplained; a mystery.
All secrets of the deep, all nature's works.

Riddle

Separate with a riddle, as grain from chaff

Secret

The parts which modesty and propriety require to be concealed; the genital organs.
Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

Riddle

Speak in riddles

Secret

To keep secret.

Riddle

Explain a riddle

Secret

Something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on);
The combination to the safe was a secret
He tried to keep his drinking a secret

Secret

Information known only to a special group;
The secret of Cajun cooking

Secret

Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained;
How it got out is a mystery
It remains one of nature's secrets

Secret

Not open or public; kept private or not revealed;
A secret formula
Secret ingredients
Secret talks

Secret

Conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods;
Clandestine intelligence operations
Cloak-and-dagger activities behind enemy lines
Hole-and-corner intrigue
Secret missions
A secret agent
Secret sales of arms
Surreptitious mobilization of troops
An undercover investigation
Underground resistance

Secret

Not openly made known;
A secret marriage
A secret bride

Secret

Communicated covertly;
Their a secret signal was a wink
Secret messages

Secret

Not expressed;
Secret (or private) thoughts

Secret

Designed to elude detection;
A hidden room or place of concealment such as a priest hole
A secret passage
The secret compartment in the desk

Secret

Hidden from general view or use;
A privy place to rest and think
A secluded romantic spot
A secret garden

Secret

(of information) given in confidence or in secret;
Closet information
This arrangement must be kept confidential
Their secret communications

Secret

Indulging only covertly;
A closet alcoholic
Closet liberals

Secret

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding;
Mysterious symbols
The mystical style of Blake
Occult lore
The secret learning of the ancients

Secret

The next to highest level of official classification for documents

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