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.

1. of common or frequent occurrence; prevalent; widespread: Crime is rife in the city. 2. abundant, plentiful, or numerous. 3. abounding (usu. fol. by with).

RIFE definition: 1. If something unpleasant is rife, it is very common or happens a lot: 2. full of something…. Learn more.

Definition of rife adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

There are 24 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word rife, 15 of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

Apr 5, 2026 · Adverb rife (comparative more rife, superlative most rife) Plentifully, abundantly.

Its oldest meaning, still in use today, is synonymous with widespread and prevalent; it's more likely, however, than either of those to describe negative things, as in “corruption and greed were rife in …

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.

RIFE is a content management framework designed for rapid web application development in Java, without using J2EE. RIFE's design blends together in a consistent component object model two …

Rife definition: In widespread existence, practice, or use; increasingly prevalent.