mature

See also: mâture and maturé

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məˈtjʊə/, /məˈtʃʊə/, /məˈtʃɔː/
    • Audio (UK)
      		(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /məˈtʃʊ(ə)ɹ/, /məˈtʃɝ/, /məˈt(j)ʊəɹ/
  • Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), -ɜː(ɹ), -ɔː(ɹ)

Etymology 1Edit

Borrowed from Middle French mature, from Latin mātūrus. Doublet of maduro. Partially displaced ripe, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”).

AdjectiveEdit

mature (comparative maturer or more mature, superlative maturest or most mature)

  1. Fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe.
    She is quite mature for her age.
  2. Brought to a state of complete readiness.
    a mature plan
  3. Profound; careful.
    The headmaster decided to expel the boy after a mature consideration.
  4. (medicine, obsolete) Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration.
  5. (television, film) Suitable for adults only, due to sexual themes, violence, etc.
    mature content
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2Edit

From French maturer (“to mature”), from Latin mātūrō.

VerbEdit

mature (third-person singular simple present matures, present participle maturing, simple past and past participle matured)

  1. (intransitive) To proceed toward maturity: full development or completion (either of concrete or of abstract things, e.g. plans, judgments, qualities).
    • 1797, Mr. Harrison, “A Biographical Sketch of Hogarth”, in The Comick Magazine‎[1], volume 1, London: Harrison and Co., page 3:
      […] his originality, in the mean time, was maturing to perfection.
    Synonyms: develop, grow, progress, ripen
  2. (intransitive, of food, especially fruit) To attain maturity, to become mature or ripe.
    • 1670, Evelyn, John, chapter 35, in Sylva, or, A Discourse of Forest-trees, London, page 246:
      […] Trees […] have alwayes Fruit upon them, ripe, or preparing to mature;
    Synonyms: ripen, ripen up
  3. (transitive) To bring (something) to maturity, full development or completion.
    • 1667, Milton, John, Paradise Lost‎[2], book 1, lines 659-660:
      […] But these thoughts
      Full Counsel must mature:
    • 1768, Hoole, John, Cyrus: A Tragedy‎[3], act I, London: T. Davies, page 12:
      […] much it now
      Imports they should be still deceiv’d, till time
      Matures our enterprize;
    • 1853, Gaskell, Elizabeth, Cranford, New York: Harper, Chapter 13, p. 262,[4]:
      […] I did not interrupt her, I was so busy maturing a plan I had had in my mind for some days […]
    • 1953, Bellow, Saul, chapter 8, in The Adventures of Augie March‎[5], New York: Viking, page 143:
      […] the long clean groove of her upper lip was ready to go into motion, as if she were going to break her silence with something momentous and long-matured; explain love to me, perhaps.
  4. (transitive) To make (something, e.g. fruit) ripe or mature.
    • 1782, Cowper, William, “Charity”, in Poems‎[6], London: J. Johnson, page 202:
      […] a ship well freighted with the stores
      The sun matures on India’s spicy shores,
    • 2009, Findlay, Hugh, Practical Gardening, Vegetables and Fruits‎[7]:
      There are certain vegetables like the tomato which require a long period to mature the fruit, and these must be started several weeks before the frosts have passed.
    Synonym: ripen
  5. (intransitive, of a person) To proceed toward or become mature or full-grown, either physically or psychologically; to gain experience or wisdom with age.
    Synonyms: age, develop, grow up; see also Thesaurus:to age
  6. (transitive) To make (someone) mature.
    • 1776, Cowley, Hannah, The Runaway‎[8], London: Prologue:
      Then Tom shall have his kite, and Fan new dollies,
      Till time matures them for important follies.
    • 1970, Davies, Robertson, chapter 2, in Fifth Business‎[9], part 6, Toronto: Macmillan, page 103:
      […] what I most wanted was time to grow up. The war had not matured me;
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:make older
  7. (intransitive, finance) To reach the date when payment is due.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle French mature, borrowed from Latin mātūrus. Doublet of mûr.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

mature (plural matures)

  1. (of a person) mature

VerbEdit

mature

  1. first-person singular present indicative of maturer
  2. third-person singular present indicative of maturer
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of maturer
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of maturer
  5. second-person singular imperative of maturer

Further readingEdit

ItalianEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

mature f pl

  1. feminine plural of maturo

AnagramsEdit

LatinEdit

AdjectiveEdit

mātūre

  1. vocative masculine singular of mātūrus

ReferencesEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

NounEdit

mature

  1. Alternative form of matere

PortugueseEdit

VerbEdit

mature

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of maturar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of maturar
  3. third-person singular imperative of maturar
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