W. E. B. Du Bois
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English is rife with words that have been handed down to us from Old English—among them, rife. It comes from the Old English adjective rȳfe and first appeared in written form in the 12th century. 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 City Hall.” Most often, rife is used alongside with to mean “abounding.” Although rife can be appropriately used for good or neutral things in this sense (and all senses), as in the first sentence of this paragraph, like its synonym and fellow Old English descendant lousy (from the Old English noun lūs, meaning “louse”), it tends to describe things one wishes weren’t in such copious supply.
Examples of rife in a Sentence
Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 18 Jan. 2026
Speculation has since been rife about which of JPM’s executive team would step in to fill the significant shoes of Dimon.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 16 Jan. 2026
Speculation is rife over Venezuela’s political future.
—Ciaran Donnelly, Time, 11 Jan. 2026
But many people are uneasy, in a country where corruption is rife and trust in the authorities is low.
—Veselin Toshkov, Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Rife.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rife. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
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rife
adjective
