mature

/məˈtjʊə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/mət͡ʃoː/

mature adjective: fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe.

Adjective

mature (comparative more mature, superlative most mature)

Fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe.
- She is quite mature for her age.
- The excellent mature eggplants grown in the garden plot are quickly being picked up by family and friends.
Synonyms:

adult, adultish
Brought to a state of complete readiness.
- a mature plan
Profound; careful.
- The headmaster decided to expel the boy after a mature consideration.
- On mature reflection, I feel it would be wiser not to sell.
(obsolete) Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration.
Suitable for adults only, due to sexual themes, violence, etc.
- mature content
Synonyms:

adult

Verb

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

(intransitive) To proceed toward maturity: full development or completion (either of concrete or of abstract things, e.g. plans, judgments, qualities).
- […] his originality, in the mean time, was maturing to perfection.1797, Mr. Harrison, “A Biographical Sketch of Hogarth”, in The Comick Magazine, volume 1, London: Harrison and Co., page 3
Synonyms:

develop, grow, progress, ripen
(intransitive, especially fruit) To attain maturity, to become mature or ripe.
- […] Trees […] have alwayes Fruit upon them, ripe, or preparing to mature;1670, John Evelyn, chapter 35, in Sylva, or, A Discourse of Forest-trees, London, page 246
Synonyms:

ripen, ripen up
(transitive) To bring (something) to maturity, full development, or completion.
- […] But these thoughts
  Full Counsel must mature:1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 1, lines 659–660
- […] much it now
  Imports they should be still deceiv’d, till time
  Matures our enterprize;1768, John Hoole, Cyrus: A Tragedy, London: T. Davies, act I, page 12
(transitive) To make (something, e.g. fruit) ripe or mature.
- […] a ship well freighted with the stores
  The sun matures on India’s spicy shores,1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems, London: J. Johnson, page 202
- 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.2009, Hugh Findlay, Practical Gardening, Vegetables and Fruits
Synonyms:

ripen
(intransitive) 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
(transitive) To make (someone) mature.
- Then Tom shall have his kite, and Fan new dollies,
  Till time matures them for important follies.1776, Hannah Cowley, The Runaway, London: Prologue
- […] what I most wanted was time to grow up. The war had not matured me;1970, Robertson Davies, chapter 2, in Fifth Business, part 6, Toronto: Macmillan, page 103
Synonyms:

age, antiquate, eld, obsolete
(intransitive) To reach the date when payment is due.
- When the bond matures, the full face value is payable to its bearer.

mature meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

mature in Hindi

fully developed: परिपक्व paripakva, विकसित viksit

mature in Tamil

முதிர்ந்த, முதிர்ச்சியடைந்த, பக்குவமான, பழுத்த, கனிந்த, பண்படை

mature in Marathi

mature: पोक्त pokta

mature in Urdu

mature: پخو paxo, پختہ puxta

More languagesFewer languages

mature in Bengali: প্রৌঢ় prōuṛh
mature in Telugu: పక్వము pakvamu, ముదురు muduru, పక్వమగు pakvamagu
mature in Malayalam: പക്വത pakvata, പക്വം pakvaṁ
mature in Kannada: ನೆರೆ, ಪಕ್ವ, ಬಲಿತ, ಮಾಗಿದ
mature in Punjabi: ਸਿਆਣਾ siāṇā
mature in Gujarati: પાકું pākũ
mature in Odia: ପରିପକ୍ୱ
mature in Sanskrit: प्रभूत prábhūta
mature in Assamese: পূৰঠ puroth
mature in Nepali: परिपक्व
mature in Arabic: نَاضِج nāḍij, رَاشِد rāšid, مُعَتَّق muʕattaq

Examples of mature in a sentence

She was very mature for a sophomore and had several friends who were juniors or even seniors.
The new leaflets at the end of the branch were a lighter shade of green than the mature leaves.
The boy grew wise as he matured.

All 40 example sentences with mature

Synonyms of mature

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of mature

Forms of mature

Adjective
comparative	more mature
superlative	most mature
Verb
third-person singular present	matures
present participle	maturing
past participle	matured
past	matured

Past tense of mature: matured

Origin of mature

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

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

Words formed from mature

Phrases with mature

Words that rhyme with mature

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mature

What does mature mean?: Mature means fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe.
What is mature in Hindi?: Mature in Hindi is परिपक्व (paripakva), विकसित (viksit). See Mature meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is mature?: Mature can be an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce mature?: Mature is pronounced /məˈtjʊə/ (UK).

Words near mature in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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