mature Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb develop and reach maturity; undergo maturation
    maturate; grow.
    • He matured fast
    • The child grew fast
  2. verb develop and work out fully in one's mind
    • I need to mature my thoughts
  3. verb become due for repayment
    • These bonds mature in 2005
  4. verb cause to ripen or develop fully
    ripen.
    • The sun ripens the fruit
    • Age matures a good wine
  5. verb grow old or older
    age; maturate; senesce; get on.
    • She aged gracefully
    • we age every day--what a depressing thought!
    • Young men senesce
  6. verb cause to ripen and discharge pus
    suppurate.
    • The oil suppurates the pustules
  7. adjective characteristic of maturity
    • mature for her age
  8. adjective satellite fully considered and perfected
    matured.
    • mature plans
  9. adjective having reached full natural growth or development
    • a mature cell
  10. adjective fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used
    ripe.
    • ripe peaches
    • full-bodied mature wines
  11. adjective (of birds) having developed feathers or plumage; often used in combination
    fledged.

WordNet


Ma*ture" adjective
Etymology
L. maturus; prob. akin to E. matin.
Wordforms
comparative Maturer ; superlative Maturest
Definitions
  1. Brought by natural process to completeness of growth and development; fitted by growth and development for any function, action, or state, appropriate to its kind; full-grown; ripe.
    Now is love mature in ear. Tennison.
    How shall I meet, or how accost, the sage, Unskilled in speech, nor yet mature of age ? Pope.
  2. Completely worked out; fully digested or prepared; ready for action; made ready for destined application or use; perfected; as, a mature plan.
    This lies glowing, . . . and is almost mature for the violent breaking out. Shak.
  3. Of or pertaining to a condition of full development; as, a man of mature years.
  4. Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration. Syn. -- Ripe; perfect; completed; prepared; digested; ready. -- Mature, Ripe. Both words describe fullness of growth. Mature brings to view the progressiveness of the process; ripe indicates the result. We speak of a thing as mature when thinking of the successive stayes through which it has passed; as ripe, when our attention is directed merely to its state. A mature judgment; mature consideration; ripe fruit; a ripe scholar.
Ma*ture" transitive verb
Etymology
See Maturate, Mature.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Matured ; present participle & verbal noun Maturing
Definitions
  1. To bring or hasten to maturity; to promote ripeness in; to ripen; to complete; as, to mature one's plans. Bacon.
Ma*ture" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To advance toward maturity; to become ripe; as, wine matures by age; the judgment matures by age and experience.
  2. Hence, to become due, as a note.

Webster 1913