ripeness

Everyday

1. The state of fruit, vegetables or grain being fully grown and ready to eat or pick. tree →
2. Being fully developed or ready: "the ripeness of time". tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and science lessons, ripeness is checked by colour, smell and softness: a ripe banana is yellow, an unripe one green. Ripening is a chemical change; some fruits ripen faster near bananas because of a gas called ethylene. Phrases: at the peak of ripeness, check for ripeness.

Examples

• Check the ripeness of an avocado by gently pressing it. tree →
• The strawberries were picked at full ripeness. tree →
• You can tell the ripeness of a banana by its colour. tree →
• The farmer waited for the wheat to reach ripeness. tree →
• The sweet smell showed the melon's ripeness. tree →
• In science we recorded the ripeness of pears each day. tree →

Note

Uncountable. From "ripe" + -ness. Opposite: unripeness. "Overripe" means too ripe.