rife
Americanadjective
-
of common or frequent occurrence; prevalent; in widespread existence, activity, or use.
Crime is rife in the slum areas of our cities.
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current in speech or report.
Rumors are rife that the government is in financial difficulty.
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abundant, plentiful, or numerous.
- Synonyms:
- teeming, multitudinous, plenteous
- Antonyms:
- scarce
-
abounding (usually followed bywith ).
adjective
-
of widespread occurrence; prevalent or current
rumour was rife in the village
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very plentiful; abundant
-
(foll by with) abounding (in)
a land rife with poverty
Other Word Forms
- overrife adjective
- rifely adverb
- rifeness noun
- unrife adjective
Etymology
Origin of rife
before 1150; Middle English; Old English rīfe; cognate with Middle Dutch rijf abundant, Old Norse rīfr
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
BEY093 is now in the Owens Valley, a place rife with livestock and elk — likely “a good place for other wolves to be,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Social media is rife with fabricated satellite imagery, heatmaps and other pseudo forensic visuals used to cast doubt on genuine evidence from the war, researchers say.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
But even there, voters are uneasy, which presents rife opportunity for Democratic candidate Shawn Harris.
From BBC • Mar. 9, 2026
In his Saturday remarks, Xi demanded overhauls to the management of military budgets and tighter scrutiny on fund flows—areas seen as rife with corruption.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2026
Egyptian art is rife with depictions of musicians and their instruments, suggesting that music was an important feature of public and private life.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
