| / English Dictionary |
PREMATURE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Uncommonly early or before the expected time
Example:
alcohol brought him to an untimely end
Synonyms:
premature; untimely
Classified under:
Similar:
early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)
Derivation:
prematureness (the state of being premature)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Too soon or too hasty
Example:
a premature judgment
Synonyms:
premature; previous
Classified under:
Similar:
early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)
Derivation:
prematureness (the state of being premature)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Born after a gestation period of less than the normal time
Example:
a premature infant
Classified under:
Adjectives
Also:
immature (not yet mature)
Antonym:
full-term (gestated for the entire duration of normal pregnancy)
Derivation:
prematureness; prematurity (the state of being premature)
Context examples:
Perry's setting up his carriage! and his wife's persuading him to it, out of care for his health—just what will happen, I have no doubt, some time or other; only a little premature.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Births are considered premature when it takes place before week 37 of pregnancy.
(Early birth main cause of child death in Brazil, Agência Brasil)
Without E1B function, virus production is compromised due to the premature death of the host cell.
(E1B Protein, NCI Thesaurus)
The CYP3A5*3 allele exhibits a clinically-relevant SNP (g.6986A>G) in intron 3 that results in a splicing defect and premature stop at 102 amino acids.
(CYP3A5*3 Allele, NCI Thesaurus)
Even then, White Fang was not premature.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Alas! If I join St. John, I abandon half myself: if I go to India, I go to premature death.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Oxidative stress promotes a range of degenerative disorders, including cancer, diabetes, premature aging, Alzheimer's, and many others.
(Oxidative stress, NCI Thesaurus)
It would be premature to say more.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And yet it may be premature to abandon the case.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I have sometimes thought that I was premature with Lord Hawkesbury.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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