rife /raɪf/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: ryfe ]
1 . [not before noun] if something bad or unpleasant is rife, it is very common:
Violent crime is rife in our inner cities.
2 . rife with something full of something bad or unpleasant:
The crowded factories are rife with disease.
3 . run rife to spread quickly in an uncontrolled way:
No one knew exactly what he had done, but speculation ran rife.
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THESAURUS
▪ common if something is common, there are a lot of them:
Jones is a very common name in Great Britain.
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Foxes are common in the area.
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Personal computers are nearly as common in American homes as televisions.
▪ widespread happening in a lot of places or done by a lot of people:
Racism is much more widespread than people imagine.
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The report claimed that the problem of police brutality was widespread.
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the widespread availability of antibiotics
▪ commonplace [not before noun] especially written common in a particular place or time – used especially when saying that this seems surprising or unusual:
Crimes such as robbery are commonplace in big cities.
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Expensive foreign cars are commonplace in this Chicago suburb.
▪ prevalent formal common in a place or among a group of people – used especially about illnesses, problems, or ideas:
Flu is most prevalent during the winter months.
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Depression remains one of the most prevalent health disorders in the US.
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This belief is more prevalent among men than women.
▪ rife /raɪf/ [not before noun] very common – used about illnesses or problems:
AIDS is rife in some parts of the world.
▪ ubiquitous /juːˈbɪkwətəs, juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ formal very common and seen in many different places – often used humorously in written descriptions:
He was carrying the ubiquitous MP3 player.
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In Britain, CCTV cameras are ubiquitous.
▪ something is everywhere especially spoken used when saying that you can see something a lot in many different places:
Images of the dictator were everywhere.
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Microchips seem to be everywhere these days – even in washing machines.
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One of the first things you notice in Amsterdam are the bicycles – they’re everywhere.