mature

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈtjʊə/, /məˈt͡ʃʊə/, /məˈt͡ʃɔː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹ/, /məˈt͡ʃɝ/, /məˈt(j)ʊəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), -ɜː(ɹ), -ɔː(ɹ)

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

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.

   The excellent mature eggplants grown in the garden plot are quickly being being picked up by family and friends.

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

• (grown up in terms of physical appearance): adult, grown; see also Thesaurus:full-grown
• (grown up in terms of behaviour or thinking): adultish, grown up; see also Thesaurus:mature
• (suitable for adults only): adult; see also Thesaurus:for adults

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "grown up"): childish, immature
• (antonym(s) of "profound"): superficial

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Verb

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, 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, John Evelyn, 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, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎, book 1, lines 659–660:

     […] But these thoughts
     Full Counsel must mature:

   • 1768, John Hoole, Cyrus: A Tragedy‎, London: T. Davies, act I, page 12:

     […] much it now
     Imports they should be still deceiv’d, till time
     Matures our enterprize;

   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford, New York: Harper, Chapter 13, p. 262,:

     […] I did not interrupt her, I was so busy maturing a plan I had had in my mind for some days […]

   • 1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 8, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press, →OCLC, 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, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems‎, London: J. Johnson, page 202:

     […] a ship well freighted with the stores
     The sun matures on India’s spicy shores,

   • 2009, Hugh Findlay, Practical Gardening, Vegetables and Fruits‎:

     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, Hannah Cowley, The Runaway‎, London: Prologue:

     Then Tom shall have his kite, and Fan new dollies,
     Till time matures them for important follies.

   • 1970, Robertson Davies, chapter 2, in Fifth Business‎, 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.

   When the bond matures, the full face value is payable to its bearer.

Synonyms

• maturate

Derived terms

• maturable
• mature up

Translations

Anagrams

• tamure

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.tyʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland)

  (file)

• Homophones: maturent, matures

Adjective

mature (plural matures)

1. (of a person) mature

Verb

mature

1. inflection of maturer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “mature”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈtu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: ma‧tù‧re

Adjective

mature f pl

1. feminine plural of maturo

Anagrams

• murate, mutare, muterà, tamurè

Latin

Adjective

mātūre

1. vocative masculine singular of mātūrus

Adverb

mātūrē (comparative mātūrius, superlative mātūrissimē)

1. early, speedy, ripe, mature, mellow, timely, seasonable

References

• “mature”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mature”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mature in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• mature - Latin is Simple Online Dictionary

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Middle French mature and its etymon Latin mātūrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈtiu̯r(ə)/, /maːˈtiu̯r(ə)/

Adjective

mature (rare, Late Middle English)

1. mature (ripe)
2. mature (careful)

Descendants

• English: mature

References

• “mā̆tūre, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

mature

1. Alternative form of matere

Etymology 3

Verb

mature

1. Alternative form of maturen

Portuguese

Verb

mature

1. inflection of maturar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative