rife.
Widespread, common, prevalent, current (mainly of unpleasant or harmful things).
Meaning & usage
Widespread, common, prevalent, current (mainly of unpleasant or harmful things).
Smallpox was rife after the siege had been lifted.
Rumors were rife that the factory was about to shut down.
Abounding; present in large numbers, plentiful.
Red deer are rife in these woodlands.
Seeds are rife in a watermelon.
Full of (mostly unpleasant or harmful things).
Many post-colonial governments were rife with lawlessness and corruption.
Having power; active; nimble.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rife, from Old English rīfe, rȳfe (“rife, abundant, frequent”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīb, from Proto-Germanic *rībaz (“generous”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to tear (off), rip”). Cognate with West Frisian rju (“rife, much”), Dutch rijf (“abundant, copious”), Low German rive (“abundant, munificent”), Icelandic rífur (“rife, munificent”), Faroese ríviligur (“plentiful, abundant”), Faroese rívan (“abundantly”), Icelandic reifa (“to bestow”).
Plentifully, abundantly.
The snowdrops grow rife on the slopes of Mount Pembroke.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rife, from Old English rīfe, rȳfe (“rife, abundant, frequent”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīb, from Proto-Germanic *rībaz (“generous”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to tear (off), rip”). Cognate with West Frisian rju (“rife, much”), Dutch rijf (“abundant, copious”), Low German rive (“abundant, munificent”), Icelandic rífur (“rife, munificent”), Faroese ríviligur (“plentiful, abundant”), Faroese rívan (“abundantly”), Icelandic reifa (“to bestow”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.