mature

Formsmatures, maturing, matured

1. 1
   adjective

   Fully developed in physical appearance, behavior, or thinking; grown-up and ripe.

   A mature adult takes responsibility for her own mistakes.

   The orchard's mature trees produce more fruit each season.

   Similaradult, grown-up, full-grown, developed, ripe

   Oppositeimmature, juvenile, young, childish

   Note

   The core sense came into English through Middle French from Latin mātūrus, a Latin source it shares with its doublet maduro. It partly displaced native ripe, which goes back to Old English rīpe. The two still overlap over garden produce, as with mature eggplants, while a phrase like quite mature for her age shows the ground this word holds for people's behavior and thinking.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To become mature or full-grown, physically or psychologically, gaining experience and wisdom with age.

   Teenagers mature emotionally as they face new challenges.

   She matured into a thoughtful, patient leader.

   Similardevelop, age

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To attain maturity; to become fully grown or ripe, as fruit does.

   Peaches mature on the branch before they are picked.

   In a hot climate, melons mature within weeks.

   Similarripen

   Note

   Here the verb meets ripe, the old word whose ground the core adjective partly took over. John Evelyn's Sylva (1670) sets them side by side, describing trees with fruit "ripe, or preparing to mature". In that pairing, ripe names the state already reached and the verb names the process still under way. Ripen remains the everyday synonym.

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To proceed toward full development or completion, whether of concrete things or abstract ones like plans, judgments, or qualities.

   His political views matured as he read more widely.

   Let the strategy mature before committing resources to it.

   Similardevelop, grow, progress, ripen

   Note

   The verb arrived by its own route, alongside the borrowed adjective: from Middle English maturen and Middle French maturer, back to Latin mātūrō. In this intransitive use the thing itself does the developing, and it often takes a goal. Mr. Harrison's 1797 "Biographical Sketch of Hogarth" has originality maturing to perfection. Plans and judgments mature this way too, without anyone acting on them.

5. 5
   adjective

   Suitable for adults only, owing to sexual themes, violence, or similar content.

   The streaming service flags mature programs with a warning.

   Critics praised the film despite its mature subject matter.

   Similaradult, explicit

   Note

   A ratings and broadcasting word, usually met in labels such as mature content. Because it points to restricted material without naming it, it can collide with the grown-up meaning. A mature audience is one old enough to watch, which says nothing about how sensibly it behaves. The noun it modifies usually settles which meaning is intended.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To develop something until it is fully formed, ripe, or complete.

   Skilled editors can mature a rough draft into a polished book.

   Years of negotiation matured the agreement into a workable treaty.

   Similardevelop, refine, perfect, ripen

   Note

   This is the transitive verb of plans and schemes, where someone works an idea into shape. Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford (1853) has a narrator busy maturing a plan, and Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) leaves thoughts for full counsel to mature. Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March (1953) turns the past participle into a hyphenated adjective: something momentous and long-matured.

7. 7
   adjective

   Brought to a state of full readiness or completion.

   The software reached a mature stage after years of refinement.

   Their manufacturing process is now fully mature.

   Similardeveloped, established, refined, complete, finished

   Oppositeimmature, undeveloped, nascent

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To make something, such as fruit, become ripe or mature.

   Cellaring matures the wine and softens its tannins.

   Growers mature melons in heated greenhouses during winter.

   Similarripen

9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To reach the date on which payment becomes due, as a bond or loan does.

   The treasury bills mature in ninety days.

   When the deposit matures, the bank returns the full amount with interest.

   Note

   Finance uses the word for the end of a term rather than for growth. A bond or deposit matures on the day its face value becomes payable to the bearer. The subject is the instrument, not its holder: you say the bond matures, not that the investor does. Like the other verb uses, it takes no object here.

10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To cause someone to become mature.

    Responsibility for his siblings matured him early.

    Military service can mature a young recruit fast.

    Similarage

    Note

    Applied to people, the transitive verb usually takes an experience or time as its subject rather than a person. Hannah Cowley's The Runaway (1776) has time maturing children "for important follies". Robertson Davies's Fifth Business (1970) writes that the war had not matured me. The construction lets a writer credit, or deny, what an event did to someone.

11. 11
    adjective

    Profound and careful; marked by thorough deliberation.

    The committee reached its verdict only after mature deliberation.

    Her mature judgment guided the family through the crisis.

    Similarcareful, considered, thoughtful, sound, sober

    Oppositehasty, rash, impulsive

    Note

    Here the word attaches to acts of thought rather than to the thinker. A phrase like after a mature consideration describes deliberation that has been given its full time. It sits close to the grown-up meaning, but the person need not be old or wise. What is mature is the weighing itself, so the word pairs with nouns like consideration rather than with people.

Showing meanings only. Show all 12