ripen B2 Topic:Plants & Agriculture US /ˈraɪ.pən/ UK /ˈraɪ.pən/ See IPA manual Freq #40255 Meanings 1 verb to become ripe and ready to eat or harvest The peaches ripen in late summer. 2 verb to cause fruit, grain, or another food to become ripe Warm days and cool nights ripen the grapes slowly. 3 verb figurative: to develop into a fuller, more mature, or ready state Their cautious friendship ripened into trust. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 verb · to become ripe and ready to... maturecome to maturity 2 verb · to cause fruit, grain, or... maturebring to maturity 3 verb · figurative: to develop into... maturedevelopcome to fruition Word family Forms ripenedripeningripens Derived forms ripeneroverripen Related forms riperipenessmature Etymology From Middle English ripenen, based on ripe + the verb-forming suffix -en. It inherited both intransitive 'become ripe' and transitive 'make ripe' uses. Topics Plants & Agriculture External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # ripen **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** verb **IPA (US):** /ˈraɪ.pən/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈraɪ.pən/ **Frequency rank:** 40255 ## Meanings 1. to become ripe and ready to eat or harvest 2. to cause fruit, grain, or another food to become ripe 3. figurative: to develop into a fuller, more mature, or ready state ## Examples - The peaches ripen in late summer. - Warm days and cool nights ripen the grapes slowly. - Their cautious friendship ripened into trust. ## Synonyms - mature - develop - come to fruition ## Derived Forms - ripener - overripen ## Related Forms - ripe - ripeness - mature ## Etymology From Middle English ripenen, based on ripe + the verb-forming suffix -en. It inherited both intransitive 'become ripe' and transitive 'make ripe' uses. ## Topics - Plants & Agriculture markdown