rife
Exam frequency
GRE
high
Banks
high
Civil Services
high
Meaning(s)
something unpleasant that occurs frequently
How to Memorize
rife - widespread
Analysis
Something that is ‘rife’ is excessively abundant. This formal word tends to be used for negative things that are widespread or prevalent, like crime, greed, corruption, etc., except when expressing rampant rumours or speculation, which can be both positive and negative in nature.
| Exams | Spoken | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synonyms | prevalent,abundant | ||
| Antonyms | scarce,infrequent,deficient |
Example(s)
Corruption is rife in that department. It needs somebody with strength and integrity to go in and weed it out.
Speculation about who would take over the company was rife in the office for weeks leading up to the announcement.
With violent crime rife in our major cities, we need the police to crack down on gang activities.