I wondered the same (also a non-native speaker), but I figured if I can use the word correctly (to my knowledge) in a sentence, it means I know what it means. Even if I can&#x27;t succinctly describe its meaning in English or Dutch. That&#x27;s a job for dictionary-editors :-)<p>The problem with &quot;rife&quot; is that it&#x27;s mainly used in the context of &quot;rife with&quot;, where it means something like &quot;full of&quot;. Then it gets confusing because it&#x27;s not really correct to say &quot;rife&quot; means &quot;full&quot;. Or, &quot;rife means full changing with to of&quot;, which is just word salad.