FULL-BLOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does full-blown mean? 

• FULL-BLOWN (adjective)
  The adjective FULL-BLOWN has 2 senses:

1. fully ripe; at the height of bloom

2. having or displaying all the characteristics necessary for completeness

  Familiarity information: FULL-BLOWN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FULL-BLOWN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fully ripe; at the height of bloom

Synonyms:

full-blown; matured

Context example:

a full-blown rose

Similar:

mature (having reached full natural growth or development)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having or displaying all the characteristics necessary for completeness

Context example:

a full-blown financial crisis

Similar:

complete (having every necessary or normal part or component or step)

 Context examples 

Poor thing! She found it hot enough; but they were so full-blown that one could not wait.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The number of people who develop blood antibodies to the red meat allergen without having full-blown symptoms is much higher — as much as 20 percent of the population in some areas, the researchers say.

(Researchers have found a link between allergen in red meat and heart disease, National Institutes of Health)

This was a full-blown, very plump damsel, fair as waxwork, with handsome and regular features, languishing blue eyes, and ringleted yellow hair.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Solicitor—for just before leaving London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a full-blown solicitor!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Quite flushed with excitement were their ruddy faces, as they swung in the wind, whispering to one another what they had seen, for some peeped in at the dining room windows where the feast was spread, some climbed up to nod and smile at the sisters as they dressed the bride, others waved a welcome to those who came and went on various errands in garden, porch, and hall, and all, from the rosiest full-blown flower to the palest baby bud, offered their tribute of beauty and fragrance to the gentle mistress who had loved and tended them so long.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An anxiety disorder characterized by agoraphobia in the absence of a history of panic attacks; the individual fears incapacitation or humiliation in open, public places or situations due to panic-like symptoms rather than a full-blown panic attack.

(Agoraphobia without a History of Panic Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Meaning nothing but a certain matured frivolity and selfishness, not always inseparable from full-blown years, I think she confirmed him in his fear that he was a constraint upon his young wife, and that there was no congeniality of feeling between them, by so strongly commending his design of lightening the load of her life.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)