Maturation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Maturation \Mat`u*ra"tion\, n. [L. maturatio a hastening: cf. F.
     maturation.]
     The process of bringing, or of coming, to maturity; hence,
     specifically, the process of suppurating perfectly; the
     formation of pus or matter.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  maturation
       n 1: coming to full development; becoming mature [syn: {ripening},
             {maturement}]
       2: (biology) the process of an individual organism growing
          organically; a purely biological unfolding of events
          involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple
          to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of
          osseous development in children" [syn: {growth}, {growing},
           {development}, {ontogeny}, {ontogenesis}] [ant: {nondevelopment}]
       3: (medicine) the formation of morbific matter in an abscess or
          a vesicle and the discharge of pus [syn: {festering}, {suppuration}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  67 Moby Thesaurus words for "maturation":
     accomplishment, advance, advancement, aging, amplification,
     beautification, blossoming, budding, burgeoning, close, completing,
     completion, conclusion, culmination, development,
     developmental change, elaboration, embellishment, end, ending,
     enlargement, evolution, evolutionary change, evolvement, evolving,
     excrescence, expansion, explication, finish, finishing, flowering,
     full development, furtherance, gemmation, germination,
     gradual change, growth, maturescence, maturity, mellowing,
     natural development, natural growth, nonviolent change, outgrowth,
     overgrowth, perfection, procreation, progress, progression,
     pullulation, refinement, reproduction, ripeness, ripening, rise,
     rounding off, rounding out, seasoning, senescence, sprouting,
     tempering, termination, terminus, topping off, upgrowth,
     vegetation, windup