RIPENING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ripening mean? 

• RIPENING (noun)
  The noun RIPENING has 2 senses:

1. coming to full development; becoming mature

2. acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time

  Familiarity information: RIPENING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RIPENING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coming to full development; becoming mature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

maturation; maturement; ripening

Hypernyms ("ripening" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Derivation:

ripen (grow ripe)

ripen (cause to ripen or develop fully)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

ageing; aging; ripening

Hypernyms ("ripening" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ripening"):

mellowing (the process of becoming mellow)

 Context examples 

Sometimes a life glides away, and finds it still ripening in the shade.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“That may be done without horses. Come, and eat my strawberries. They are ripening fast.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I see trees laden with ripening fruit.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was field upon field of ripening grain, with well-paved roads running between, and pretty rippling brooks with strong bridges across them.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit.

(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)

The schoolroom was a pretty large hall, on the quietest side of the house, confronted by the stately stare of some half-dozen of the great urns, and commanding a peep of an old secluded garden belonging to the Doctor, where the peaches were ripening on the sunny south wall.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)