Word.ws English Dictionary

rifer

rifer is the comparative form of rife.

Meaning of rife

Adjective

rife (comparative rifer, superlative rifest)

  1. Widespread, common, prevalent, current (mainly of unpleasant or harmful things).
    • Smallpox was rife after the siege had been lifted.
    Synonyms:
    pandemic
  2. Abounding; present in large numbers, plentiful.
    • Red deer are rife in these woodlands.
    Synonyms:
    filled
  3. Full of (mostly unpleasant or harmful things).
    • Many post-colonial governments were rife with lawlessness and corruption.
    Synonyms:
    fraught
  4. (obsolete) Having power; active; nimble.
    • What! I am rife a little yet.1661, John Webster, William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold

See all 5 meanings of rife

Questions about rifer

What is rifer the comparative form of?
Rifer is the comparative form of rife.

Words near rifer in the dictionary

  1. rifaximin
  2. rife
  3. RIFed
  4. rifely
  5. rifeness
  6. rifer
  7. rifest
  8. riff
  9. riff-raff
  10. riff-raffs
  11. riff-raffy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rifer (page history and authors); rife (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “rifer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rifer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.