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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rife \Rife\, adjective [AS. r[=i]f abundant, or Icel. r[=i]fr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
1. Prevailing; prevalent; abounding.
Before the plague of London, inflammations of the lungs were rife and mortal. --Arbuthnot.
Even now the tumult of loud mirth Was rife, and perfect in may listening ear. --Milton.
2. Having power; active; nimble. [Obs.]
What! I am rife a little yet. --J. Webster. -- {Rife"ly}, adverb -- {Rife"ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
rife
adjective
1: encountered generally especially at the present time; "the prevailing opinion was that a trade war could be averted"; "the most prevalent religion in our area"; "speculation concerning the books author was rife" [syn: {prevailing}, {prevalent}]
2: excessively abundant [syn: {overabundant}, {plethoric}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
112 Moby Thesaurus words for "rife": abounding, abundant, affluent, afloat, alive with, all-sufficing, ample, aplenty, average, bandied about, besetting, bottomless, bounteous, bountiful, bristling, bruited about, bursting, common, copious, crawling, crowded, crowding, current, diffuse, dominant, effuse, epidemic, exhaustless, extravagant, exuberant, fat, fertile, flush, full, galore, generous, going about, going around, in circulation, in plenty, in profusion, in quantity, in the air, in the news, inexhaustible, jam-packed, jammed, lavish, liberal, luxuriant, made public, many, maximal, much, normal, numerous, opulent, ordinary, overflowing, packed, pandemic, plenitudinous, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, popular, populous, predominant, predominating, prevailing, prevalent, prodigal, productive, profuse, profusive, proliferating, prolific, rampant, regnant, reigning, replete, reported, rich, riotous, routine, ruling, rumored, running, running over, standard, stereotyped, studded, superabundant, swarming, talked about, teeming, thick, thick as hail, thick with, thick-coming, thronged, thronging, usual, wealthy, well-found, well-furnished, well-provided, well-stocked, whispered, whispered about, wholesale, widespread
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