Word.ws English Dictionary

ripest

ripest is the superlative form of ripe.

Meaning of ripe

Adjective

ripe (comparative riper, superlative ripest)

  1. Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.
    • ripe grain
  2. Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.
    • ripe cheese
  3. (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
    Synonyms:
    consummate
  4. (archaic) Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge.
  5. 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
  6. (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)

See all 17 meanings of ripe

Questions about ripest

What is ripest the superlative form of?
Ripest is the superlative form of ripe.

Words near ripest in the dictionary

  1. ripens
  2. ripens up
  3. riper
  4. Riperton
  5. ripes
  6. ripest
  7. ripgut
  8. ripgut brome
  9. ripgut fence
  10. ripgut fences
  11. ripgut grass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ripest (page history and authors); ripe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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