Ripe

Quick meaning: Ripe is an adjective meaning Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

Meaning

Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

More Meanings

1. Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.
2. (figuratively) Having attained its full development; mature; perfected.
3. Ready for action or effect; prepared.
4. (colloquial) Of a person, ready, willing, eager.
5. Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.
6. (archaic) Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge.
7. (obsolete) Intoxicated.

Example Sentences

He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.

So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop / Into thy mother's lap.

And so may Place retain us still, ⁠And he the much-beloved again, ⁠A lord of large experience, train To riper growth the mind and will: […]

Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.

Word Forms

• riper
• ripest
• ripes
• riping
• riped

Synonyms for ripe

Depending on context, synonyms include consummate, adrip, arseholed, bedrunken, befuddled, besotted.

Antonyms for ripe

Common opposites include immature, unripened, green.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include overripe, mature, aged, mellow, mellowed, right.

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