How to use ripe in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Ripe means of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature. Example: “Those pears aren't ripe enough for the children to eat (them).”

Examples of ripe by meaning

adjectiveOf a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

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

adjectiveReady for action or effect; prepared.

But the time is ripe for changes.1988, Queensrÿche, Revolution Calling

adjectiveOf a person, ready, willing, eager.

I'm ripe to fight.1927, Bartlett Cormack, The Racket (play)

adjectiveLike ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.

He looked back once at the waving hands, the mother's glowing, ripe cheeks.1981, Daniel Curzon, Human Warmth & Other Stories, →ISBN, page 18

adjectiveOf 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

adjectiveSmelly: having a disagreeable odor.

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...
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

nounA 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

adjectiveRife.

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...

More sentences with ripe

Those pears aren't ripe enough for the children to eat (them).From the entry enough
I chose a nice ripe apple from the fruit bowl.From the entry choose
Heʼd thrown rancid meat in a fire to fill the woods with the ripe fetor of death.2021, Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland, #Merky Books, page 39. From the entry fetor
A bad sci-fi movie is often ludicrous and silly and ripe for riffing.2015 January 27, Chris Morgan, The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon…. From the entry riff
Since these pests are attracted to the smell of ripe fruit, harvest frequently.2015 July 15, “Green Fruit Beetle”, in The Daily Garden. From the entry green fruit beetle
She peels back her bra exposing ripe melonic breasts and demands her hall mirror to take notice.2010, Allen L. Scarbrough, The Sparrow Sings of Worlds Unknown, →ISBN, page 31. From the entry melonic
Jeffrey espies a ripe snottygobble tree that hasn't been raided yet.2009, Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin, published 2009, page 66. From the entry snottygobble
He adores his bedtime baseball stories, even at his ripe old age.2009, Bob Mitchell, Once Upon a Fastball. From the entry scarily
In one hand he holds a rosary, in the other a ripe mango.2009, Vicky Ducrot, Four Centuries of Rajput Painting: Mewar, Marwar and Dhundhar Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Isabella and…. From the entry dhurry
Thus, many passages state that when the time was ripe, God acted.2006, Marita Grudzen, James P. Oberle, “Discovering the Spirit in the Rhythm of Time”, in Susan H. McFadden, Robert C. Atchley, editors…. From the entry fullness of time
Dawn Reynolds was an eighteen-year-old alabaster beauty with cobalt eyes and the figure of a ripe voluptuary.2004, Martin Torgoff, “Everybody Must Get Stoned”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.…. From the entry voluptuary
Princess Anne, the Mirror reported, likes "a very black banana and ripe Kiwi fruit".2003 November 20, Owen Bowcott, “Royal security? It's a dog's breakfast”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News…. From the entry kiwi fruit
Last year we got almost a bushel of berries, and Papa says they should be ripe now."2002, Loretta Ellsworth, The Shrouding Woman, Henry Holt and Company, published 2002, →ISBN. From the entry blueberry
They heard the flight of the bats as they attacked the ripe sapodillas at their feet.1988, Jorge Amado, translated by Gregory Rabassa, Captains of the Sands, Penguin, published 2013, page 45. From the entry sapodilla
When man is morally bankrupt, he seeks something to live by and is ripe for Communist conversion.1962, United States Congress, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates, U.S. Government Printing Office, page A3202. From the entry morally bankrupt
Ripplewood creates a presold marketful of prospects ripe for your order book.1954, American Lumberman & Building Products Merchandiser, page 27. From the entry marketful
For every newbegotten thou shalt gather thy homer of ripe wheat.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses. From the entry homer
He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 55”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC. From the entry swarm
Juicy apples, pears, lemonade, orangeade, pomegranateade, ripe peaches, etc., are pleasanter than medicines.1919, Jesse Feiring Williams, Healthful living, page 196. From the entry pomegranateade
A pus case that actually threatens neighboring parts should have interference—the abscess to be opened when ripe.1913, Edmund Carleton, Homoeopathy in Medicine and Surgery, Philadelphia, Pa.: Boericke & Tafel, page 36. From the entry knivesman
The savings and scrimpings from the cold nights of all his years were ripe to be squandered.1910, Jack London, The Wit of Porportuk. From the entry scrimping
We've been waiting for you many madsome moons, and the time is ripe for the harvest.1904, Gelett Burgess, Will Irwin, The Picaroons. From the entry madsome
And prop bets have proved particularly ripe for manipulation.2025 October 24, Keith O’Brien, “Sports Can’t Survive Prop Bets”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2025. From the entry prop bet
Some fruits are quite hard and astringent when ripe, but when bletted are quite edible – sweet, applesaucy or figgy perhaps.2019 April 25, James Harbeck, “WTN: blet, medlar”, in Word Tasting Notes (Google Groups), archived from the original on 07 Nov 2023. From the entry applesaucy
Many of these pieces had been around before, but as boomerspeak, they crystallized into a genre ripe for parody.2019 December 20, Gretchen McCulloch, “’Boomerspeak’ Is Now Available for Your Parodying Pleasure”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé…. From the entry boomerspeak
You can tell a ripe Délice by its surface.2013, Tenaya Darlington, Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings, Running Press, →ISBN. From the entry cheesecakey
You said yourself he'd only to wait and the mine would have dropped into his lap like a ripe plum.2013, John Fletcher, A Far Country. From the entry like a ripe plum
Boiling water or steam loosens the peel of very ripe peaches, especially freestone or melting-flesh types, in 10–30 sec.2012, Jasper Woodroof, Commercial Fruit Processing, page 103. From the entry peach
Nature had been kind enough to pop the finger like a ripe grape to take the pressure off.2011, Dennis Kolb, Never Take Advice from an Unscarred Man, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 84. From the entry painsong
She isn't going to just fall into your lap like a ripe plum, my boy,” the duke insisted.2010, Adrienne Basso, How to Seduce a Sinner, page 43. From the entry like a ripe plum
This is larger than a grapefruit, pale green when ripe, and has thick soft rind and quite sweet flesh.2008, Martin Walters, Chinese Wildlife: A Visitor’s Guide, Bradt Travel Guides, →ISBN, page 25, →ISBN. From the entry Chinese grapefruit

Meaning of ripe

adjective Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.
adjective Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.
adjective Having attained its full development; mature; perfected.

Full definition of ripe

Questions about ripe in a sentence

How do you use ripe in a sentence?: Ripe is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Those pears aren't ripe enough for the children to eat (them).”
What is a short sentence with ripe?: “I'm ripe to fight.”
What does ripe mean?: Ripe means of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

Adapted from Wiktionary: ripe (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use ripe in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ripe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.