mature

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See also: mâture and maturé

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French mature, from Latin mātūrus. Doublet of maduro.

Adjective[edit]

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
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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 2[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

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.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mature (plural matures)

  1. (of a person) mature

Verb[edit]

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 reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mature f pl

  1. feminine plural of maturo

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mātūre

  1. vocative masculine singular of mātūrus

References[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

mature

  1. Alternative form of matere

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

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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