Other forms: matured, maturing, matures
Mature means fully grown, or behaving like a sensible adult. A mature tree, mature for her age, a mature response.
Of cheese and wine it means aged to full flavour: mature cheddar. Of a person it is praise, and of a young person it is high praise. A mature student is one who starts a degree later than usual, which is a formal category in Britain. As a verb, to mature is to develop fully or, of an investment, to reach the date it pays out. Note maturity, and immature, which is an insult about behaviour rather than age.
1adjectivematureFully grown.
“A mature oak drinks a remarkable amount of water.”
2adjectivebehavingBehaving sensibly, like an adult.
“It was a mature response from somebody of nineteen.”
3verbdevelopTo develop fully, or to become payable.
“It takes years for a young tree to mature and produce fruit.”
mature is a state of full development.
Latin maturus meant ripe or timely — the same root as matins, the morning prayers, and the name Maturus. Ripeness and the right moment were one idea in Latin, which is why a mature person is somebody who has arrived on time.
Proto-Indo-European
*meh₂-
Latin
mātūrus
Middle French
mature
Middle English
mature
English, today
mature
From late Middle English mature, from Middle French mature, from Latin mātūrus. a doublet of maduro. Partially displaced ripe, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA