Complete in natural growth or development; fully grown or ripened; ripe: as, mature grain or fruit; a person of mature age; mature in judgment.Completely elaborated or prepared; brought to maturity; ready for use or execution; fully evolved; ample; thorough: as, a result of mature deliberation.In medicine, in a state of perfect suppuration.In com., become payable; having reached the time fixed for payment; fully due.Synonyms and Mature, Ripe, digested, well-considered. Mature and ripe both primarily denote the result of the process of physical growth. Ripe emphasizes simply the result: the fruit needs no more nourishment from the stock, and further change will be to over-ripeness and decay. Mature combines with the idea of the result the further suggestion of the process by which the result was reached. Further, ripe always seems figurative when applied to anything besides fruit, especially fruit growing above ground: to speak of a ripe scholar, or a ripened judgment, is distinctly figurative. Mature, on the other hand, seems quite as literal now in the secondary as in the primary sense. The same distinction exists between the verbs and between the nouns corresponding to these adjectives.To cause to ripen; bring to maturity: as, to mature ale.To elaborate or carry to completion; make ripe or ready for use or action: as, to mature one's plans.In medicine, to bring to a state of perfect suppuration; maturate.To come to a state of ripeness; become ripe or perfect: as, wine matures by age or by agitation in a long voyage; the judgment matures by age and experience.In com., to reach the time fixed for payment, or for payment of the principal, as distinguished from instalments of interest: as, a bill matures on a certain date.In medicine, to come to a state of perfect suppuration.In physical geography and geology, noting the stage of maximum development; specifically, rioting a stage in the cycle of erosion when the fullest development of variety in forms and of activity in processes is attained.
