rife
[rahyf]
- of common or frequent occurrence; prevalent; in widespread existence, activity, or use: Crime is rife in the slum areas of our cities.
- current in speech or report: Rumors are rife that the government is in financial difficulty.
- abundant, plentiful, or numerous.
- abounding (usually followed by with).
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Origin of rife
before 1150; Middle English; Old English rīfe; cognate with Middle Dutch rijf abundant, Old Norse rīfr
Synonyms
See more synonyms for rife on Thesaurus.com3. plenteous, multitudinous; teeming, swarming.
Antonyms
3. scarce.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rife
Contemporary Examples
The banlieue setting is rough and rife with violence and drug trafficking.
(Referenda tend to be expensive, rife with misinformation, and favorable to extreme positions).
Adding insult to injury for these ethnically distinct residents, discrimination and racism are rife on a daily basis.
It is all a result of segregated communities where illiteracy is rife and the men think they can get away with anything.
The years between 26 and 34 are rife with those kinds of life changes so heavy they earn moniker of “milestones.”
Historical Examples
Speculation was rife as to who would inherit the estate which he left behind him.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Such symptoms, when a disease of the kind is rife, are usually the signs of sickening.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
So this is the little maid of whom wonderful rumours are so rife?
The ScapegoatHall Caine
Assassinations and pillage are too rife to make absence easy.
The speculations which once would have been rife enough, were now silent.
St. Patrick's EveCharles James Lever
rife
- of widespread occurrence; prevalent or currentrumour was rife in the village
- very plentiful; abundant
- (foll by with) abounding (in)a land rife with poverty
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Word Origin
Old English rīfe; related to Old Norse rīfr generous, Middle Dutch rīve
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for rife
adj.
Old English rife "abundant, common, prevalent," from Proto-Germanic *rif- (cf. Old Norse rifr, Swedish river, Norwegian riv, Middle Dutch riif, Middle Low German rive "abundant, generous"), said to be from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" "The prevalence of the word in early southern texts is in favour of its being native in English, rather than an adoption from Scandinavian." [OED]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper