Ripen
verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 to grow ripe; to become mature (said of grain, fruit, flowers etc.) intransitive
"Grapes ripen in the sun."
- 2 grow ripe wordnet
- 3 To approach or come to perfection. intransitive
"The acquaintance soon ripened into a warm attachment."
- 4 cause to ripen or develop fully wordnet
- 5 To cause (something) to mature; to make ripe transitive
"The warm sun ripened the corn."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To mature; to fit or prepare; to bring to perfection transitive
"ripen the judgment"
Example
More examples"She watched the gardens grow, and she watched the apples turn red and ripen."
Etymology
From Middle English *ripenen, extended form of ripen, from Old English rīpian. In the modern form, equivalent to ripe + -en (inchoative and factitive suffix). As in several other verbs, the alteration seems to have occurred during the time when the infinitive and plural ending -en was in the process of being lost (and was thus open to reinterpretation). The earliest attestation is deverbal Middle English ripening (“causing ripeness, ripening”).
Related phrases
More for "ripen"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.