“Matured” is the past tense and the past participle for the verb mature. The verb can be used to describe the physical, emotional or intellectual growth and development of a person. Once somebody has matured fully it means they have achieved their full development and growth. Each person is different and some people mature quicker than others.
Let’s have a look at some examples:
- She is seven years old, she is still maturing physically, mentally and emotionally.
- The young man has matured well, his social and behavioural skills have developed and he has reached her full height.
- It is believed that girls mature quicker than boys.
The verb is not only used to describe the growth or development of a person. “Mature” can also be used to describe something that has achieved it’s desired appearance or characteristic. You may have heard the term “matured cheese” before, a matured cheese is a cheese that has aged and developed a strong flavour. A cheese with a weaker flavour may have been allowed to age for a shorter amount of time and therefore hasn’t had the time to develop a strong taste.
Here are some more examples:
- The plant has matured, it is now a fully developed plant.
- The embryo will mature into a fetus which will mature into a human being after nine months in the womb.
- This wine has matured nicely, it has been left to develop it’s flavours for 20 years.
As you can see from the examples above, the cheese, plant, embryo and wine have been allowed to develop into their intended appearance. The cheese was left to age so it would achieve a desired taste, the embryo was left to grow in the womb to develop into a human being, the plant was left to develop into the intended appearance and characteristic of a plant.
Mature can also be used an adjective to describe a noun. The adjective describes the completed growth of something such as a plant, cell, person, wine, cheese, fruit, etc.
Here are examples to see how the adjective can be used:
- The matured plant is beautiful.
- The matured cheese tastes very strong.
- Have you tried the matured wine? It had been left to mature for 10 years.
- You have a very mature son, you should be proud.
