adjective
rife
RYFE/raɪf/
Widespread or very common, especially in an undesirable way.
Caterpillars are rife throughout the cabbage patch, damaging every plant.
Etymology
Old English rife already meant abundant or prevalent, often describing harmful or unwelcome things. The troublesome implication in the selected meaning continues that longstanding tendency.
In context
beaten and tortured if they did not work sufficiently hard enough, they were fed poorly, often so that camp overseers could report on higher production yields, and malnutrition was soon rife, giving way eventually to death
More examples
- Corruption is rife throughout the agency.
- The report is rife with errors.
- Speculation is rife about who will replace the coach.
Forms
rife · rifer · rifest
Similar words
- prevalent
- Common within a place or group, without necessarily being undesirable.
- widespread
- Emphasizes broad distribution rather than frequency or undesirability.
- rampant
- Suggests something harmful is spreading or continuing without control.