ripe

UK/ɹaɪp/

ripe adjective: of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

Adjective (1)

ripe (comparative riper, superlative ripest)

Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.
- ripe grain
- ripe apples
Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.
- ripe cheese
- ripe wine
(figuratively) Having attained its full development; mature; perfected.
- He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.1623, William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth
- And so may Place retain us still,
  ⁠And he the much-beloved again,
  ⁠A lord of large experience, train
  To riper growth the mind and will: […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64
Synonyms:

consummate
(archaic) Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge.
Ready for action or effect; prepared.
- while things were just ripe for a war1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies.1775, Edmund Burke, Conciliation with America
(colloquial) Of a person, ready, willing, eager.
- I'm starting somethin' myself. I'm ripe to fight. It's this country air!1927, Bartlett Cormack, The Racket (play)
Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.
- Those happy smilets, / That played on her ripe lip.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- He looked back once at the waving hands, the mother's glowing, ripe cheeks.1981, Daniel Curzon, Human Warmth & Other Stories, →ISBN, page 18
(obsolete) Intoxicated.
- Alonso: And Trinculo is reeling-ripe: where should they / Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them? / How cam'st thou in this pickle?1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
Synonyms:

Adrian Quist, adrip, aled up, all mops and brooms, arseholed, a sheet in the wind, a sheet in the wind's eye, bedrunken, befuddled, beliquored
Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.
- Problems emerge in judging whether a case is ripe, however, when contested general agency directives are issued that are not aimed at specific parties.2004, Kenneth F. Warren, Administrative Law in the Political System, →ISBN, page 427
Smelly: having a disagreeable odor.
- His Majesty [a purple emperor butterfly] has rather peculiar tastes for so elegant a being. You just hang a piece of decidedly ripe meat anywhere near.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
- Dolores, giving her a bath yesterday, said she was a bit ripe under the armpits.2004, Colum McCann, Fishing the Sloe-Black River, →ISBN, page 141
Synonyms:

bad, buckish, cacodorous, fetid, foul-smelling, funky, graveolent, malodorous, mawkish, niffy

Noun (1)

ripe (plural ripes)

A fruit or vegetable which has ripened.
- When he realized that the ripes would not make it back to Selma, Zemurray offered a free bunch of bananas to any telegraph operator who notified local grocers that he was coming through with a shipment of bananas.1993, Paul J. Dosal, Doing Business with the Dictators, →ISBN, page 76

Verb (1)

ripe (third-person singular simple present ripes, present participle riping, simple past and past participle riped)

(intransitive) To ripen or mature.
- […] he answer'd, "Do not so; / Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, / But stay the very riping of the time; / […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Noun (2)

ripe (plural ripes)

The bank of a river.

Verb (2)

ripe (third-person singular simple present ripes, present participle riping, simple past and past participle riped)

(obsolete, transitive) To search; to rummage.

Adjective (2)

ripe (not comparable)

(proscribed) Rife
- The current state of the tech industry is ripe with danger and poses an existential threat, he believes.2022 November 27, Edward Helmore, “‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity”, in The Guardian

Noun (3) capitalized: RIPE

RIPE (uncountable)

A tuberculosis treatment regimen consisting of rifampicin (R), isoniazid (I), pyrazinamide (P), and ethambutol (E).

Synonyms:

HREZ, HRZE, RHZE

Proper noun capitalized: Ripe

Ripe

A village in Chalvington with Ripe parish, Wealden district, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ5110).

ripe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

ripe in Hindi

ripe: पक्का pakkā
ripe; mature; fully developed: परिपक्व paripakva

ripe in Tamil

ready for reaping or gathering, of fruits and seeds: பழுத்த paḻutta, கனிந்த kaṉinta
advanced to the state of fitness for use: பழுத்த paḻutta
having attained its full development; mature: பழுத்த paḻutta, கனிந்த kaṉinta
maturated or suppurated, of sores and tumors: முற்றிய muṟṟiya, முதிர்ந்த mutirnta

ripe in Urdu

ripe: پکا pakkā

More languagesFewer languages

ripe in Bengali: পাকা paka, পক্ব pokko
ripe in Telugu: పండు paṇḍu
ripe in Malayalam: പാകം pākaṁ, പഴുത്ത paḻutta, പാകമായ pākamāya, മൂത്ത mūtta
ripe in Kannada: ಪಕವ pakava
ripe in Punjabi: ਪੱਕਾ pakkā
ripe in Gujarati: પાકેલું pākelũ, પાકું pākũ
ripe in Sanskrit: पक्व pakvá
ripe in Assamese: পকা poka
ripe in Nepali: पाकेको pākeko
ripe in Pashto: پوخ pox
ripe in Arabic: ناضِج nāḍij, حاصِد ḥāṣid
ripe in Malay: masak
ripe in Indonesian: masak, matang
ripe in Persian: رسیده raside
ripe in Thai: สุก sùk
ripe in Vietnamese: chín

Examples of ripe in a sentence

So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop / Into thy mother's lap.1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter...
A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

All 40 example sentences with ripe

Synonyms of ripe

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

unripe

All synonyms and antonyms of ripe

Forms of ripe

Adjective
comparative	riper
superlative	ripest
alternative form (obsolete)	rype
Noun
plural	ripes
Verb
third-person singular present	ripes
present participle	riping
past participle	riped
past	riped

Origin of ripe

From Middle English ripe, rype, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, *rīpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”). Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

From Middle English ripe, from Latin ripa.

An alteration of rife.

Words formed from ripe

Phrases with ripe

Chalvington with Ripe

Words that rhyme with ripe

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ripe

What does ripe mean?: Ripe means of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.
What is ripe in Hindi?: Ripe in Hindi is पक्का (pakkā), परिपक्व (paripakva). See Ripe meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ripe in a sentence?: So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop / Into thy mother's lap.
What part of speech is ripe?: Ripe can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ripe?: Ripe is pronounced /ɹaɪp/ (UK).

Words near ripe in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ripe.ogg.

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