unripe
Americanadjective
-
not ripe; immature; not fully developed.
unripe fruit.
-
too early; premature.
adjective
-
not fully matured
-
not fully prepared or developed; not ready
-
obsolete premature or untimely
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unripe
before 1000; Middle English unrype, Old English unrīpe. See un- 1, ripe
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Big cracks have opened under the apple trees, which have dropped unripe fruit early to save energy.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Tomatoes, for example, grow in clusters, which means a robot must carefully select ripe fruit while leaving unripe ones untouched.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2026
On a hot morning in mid-July at the community farm, a patch of lush green ringed by high-rise apartments, Oh inspected his bananas’ progress: still unripe but noticeably fatter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2024
A jolt of dried unripe grapes and two fistfuls — exactly two — of cilantro, and the soup is done, he said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
Besides beetles and unripe berries, he’d been able to swipe only a few crayfish, which Gray had refused.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
