Secret vs. Riddle — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Secret and Riddle
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Compare with Definitions
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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