MATURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mature mean? 

• MATURE (adjective)
  The adjective MATURE has 5 senses:

1. characteristic of maturity

2. fully considered and perfected

3. having reached full natural growth or development

4. fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used

5. (of birds) having developed feathers or plumage; often used in combination

  Familiarity information: MATURE used as an adjective is common.

• MATURE (verb)
  The verb MATURE has 6 senses:

1. develop and reach maturity; undergo maturation

2. develop and work out fully in one's mind

3. become due for repayment

4. cause to ripen or develop fully

5. grow old or older

6. cause to ripen and discharge pus

  Familiarity information: MATURE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MATURE (adjective)

Comparative: maturer   
Superlative: maturest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of maturity

Context example:

mature for her age

Similar:

autumnal (characteristic of late maturity verging on decline)

ripe (at the highest point of development especially in judgment or knowledge)

Antonym:

immature (characteristic of a lack of maturity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fully considered and perfected

Synonyms:

mature; matured

Context example:

mature plans

Similar:

developed (being changed over time so as to be e.g. stronger or more complete or more useful)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Having reached full natural growth or development

Context example:

a mature cell

Similar:

adult; big; full-grown; fully grown; grown; grownup ((of animals) fully developed)

abloom; efflorescent (bursting into flower)

fruiting (capable of bearing fruit)

full-blown; matured (fully ripe; at the height of bloom)

headed (of leafy vegetables; having formed into a head)

marriageable; nubile (of girls or women who are eligible to marry)

overblown (past the stage of full bloom)

meridian; prime (being at the best stage of development)

Also:

old ((used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age)

Attribute:

age (how long something has existed)

matureness; maturity (state of being mature; full development)

Antonym:

immature (not yet mature)

Derivation:

matureness; maturity (state of being mature; full development)

maturity (the period of time in your life after your physical growth has stopped and you are fully developed)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used

Synonyms:

mature; ripe

Context example:

full-bodied mature wines

Similar:

aged; ripened (of wines, fruit, cheeses; having reached a desired or final condition; ('aged' pronounced as one syllable))

mellow; mellowed (having a full and pleasing flavor through proper aging)

overripe (too ripe and beginning to turn soft)

Derivation:

matureness (state of being mature; full development)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(of birds) having developed feathers or plumage; often used in combination

Synonyms:

fledged; mature

Similar:

full-fledged; fully fledged ((of a bird) having reached full development with fully grown adult plumage; ready to fly)

fledgeling; fledgling ((of a young bird) having acquired its flight feathers)

Derivation:

matureness; maturity (state of being mature; full development)

• MATURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they mature    ... he / she / it matures   
Past simple: matured   
Past participle: matured   
-ing form: maturing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Develop and reach maturity; undergo maturation

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

grow; maturate; mature

Context example:

The child grew fast

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

"Mature" entails doing...:

age; get on; maturate; mature; senesce (grow old or older)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mature"):

ripen (grow ripe)

find; find oneself (accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation)

grow up (become an adult)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue mature

Derivation:

maturation; maturement (coming to full development; becoming mature)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Develop and work out fully in one's mind

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

I need to mature my thoughts

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

develop; explicate; formulate (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

maturement (coming to full development; becoming mature)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become due for repayment

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

These bonds mature in 2005

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to ripen or develop fully

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

mature; ripen

Context example:

Age matures a good wine

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

ripen (grow ripe)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

maturement (coming to full development; becoming mature)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Grow old or older

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

age; get on; maturate; mature; senesce

Context example:

Young men senesce

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mature"):

turn (become officially one year older)

fossilise; fossilize (become mentally inflexible)

dote (be foolish or senile due to old age)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

maturation ((biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause to ripen and discharge pus

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

mature; suppurate

Context example:

The oil suppurates the pustules

Hypernyms (to "mature" is one way to...):

draw (cause to localize at one point)

Verb group:

fester; maturate; suppurate (ripen and generate pus)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

maturation ((medicine) the formation of morbific matter in an abscess or a vesicle and the discharge of pus)

 Context examples 

The ability to develop mature cardiac tissue in such a short time is an important step in moving us closer to having reliable human tissue models for drug testing.

(Early stimulation improves performance of bioengineered human heart cells, National Institutes of Health)

To learn more about Zika virus, a team at Purdue University examined the structure of a mature Zika virus particle at near-atomic resolution.

(Zika virus structure revealed, NIH)

A cell based cancer vaccine composed of mature polarized dendritic cells (DCs) and pulsed with apoptotic autologous tumor cells that has potential immunostimulating and antineoplatic activities.

(Apoptotic Autologous Tumor Cells-pulsed Alpha-type-1 Polarized Dendritic Cells, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by a mixture of epithelioid cells, smooth muscle, vessels, and mature adipose tissue.

(Angiomyolipoma, NCI Thesaurus)

The middle layer of the fruit wall that develops from the mature ovary wall.

(Mesocarp, Food and Drug Administration)

A murine monoclonal antibody that recognizes CD7 (previously known as 3A1), a cell surface antigen expressed by most normal mature peripheral T cells and T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias.

(Monoclonal Antibody 3A1, NCI Thesaurus)

These parasites work their way into the liver, where they mature and reproduce.

(Toothpaste ingredient may help fight drug-resistant malaria, University of Cambridge)

This allele, which encodes ADAM17 protein, is involved in the cleavage of membrane-bound cell-surface proteins to release their mature soluble forms.

(ADAM17 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Transformation of a mature, normal cell or groups of mature cells to other forms of mature cells.

(Metaplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

It includes lymphomatoid granulomatosis which is a lymphoproliferative lesion derived from mature B-lymphocytes and cases of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphomas of nasal type.

(Angiocentric Immunoproliferative Lesion, NCI Thesaurus)