rife
Americanadjective
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- teeming, multitudinous, plenteous
- Antonyms:
- scarce
-
abounding (usually followed bywith ).
adjective
-
of widespread occurrence; prevalent or current
rumour was rife in the village
-
very plentiful; abundant
-
(foll by with) abounding (in)
a land rife with poverty
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rife
before 1150; Middle English; Old English rīfe; cognate with Middle Dutch rijf abundant, Old Norse rīfr
Explanation
Use the adjective rife to mean "full of" or "widespread," especially when you're talking about something negative. If the lifeguard says the water is rife with jellyfish, you're not going to want to swim in it. Not to be confused with the word ripe (“fully developed”), rife means “abundant” or “prevalent.” Rife can follow the word it’s describing, as in “corruption was rife during his administration.” More commonly, however, rife comes before the word it modifies, accompanied by the preposition with, as in “the class was rife with yawns” or “her story was rife with inconsistencies.”
Vocabulary lists containing rife
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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This Week in Words: September 8 - 14, 2018
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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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.
He projects Tesla’s sales in China, the world’s largest market for automotive sales and rife with tough competition, to grow 3%.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 1, 2026
The risks surfaced this past week in South Korea, a market dominated by highflying semiconductor stocks and rife with investors eager to pile on leverage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 29, 2026
The early days were rife with failure and the operation hemorrhaged money.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Speculation about the manager's future has been rife for months, with the question about his tenure at Manchester City often coming up in news conferences.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
The literature of veterinary medicine is rife with cases of animals stricken by swainsonine poisoning after eating damp forage contaminated with R. leguminicola.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
