immaturity

/ɪməˈtʃʌrɪɾi/

/ɪməˈtʃʌrɪti/

Other forms: immaturities

The state of immaturity suggests something that has not ripened or is not fully grown. Applied to humans, it is the state of being less than fully-grown, or at least of acting in a childish or silly manner.

With the Latin word immātūritās meaning "unripeness," as in a piece of fruit that is not yet fully developed, we can see the meaning of the modern word immaturity. Nowadays, the word is applied more often to people than to fruit, usually in referring to foolish behavior. Although the word is most often used to refer to adolescent behavior, it can still be applied to a physical state of development. And of course, it can still be applied to underripe produce.

Definitions of immaturity

1. noun

   inappropriately childish behavior or manner
   antonyms:

   maturity

   the behavior or manner expected of or appropriate to an adult

   type of:

   behavior, behaviour, conduct, demeanor, demeanour, deportment

   (behavioral attributes) the way a person behaves toward other people
2. noun

   the state of not having reached maturity
   synonyms: immatureness

   antonyms:

   maturity

   state of being mature; full development

   types:

   greenness

   the state of not being ripe

   callowness, jejuneness, juvenility

   lacking and evidencing lack of experience of life

   prematureness, prematurity

   the state of being premature

   adolescence

   in the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood

   childhood, puerility

   the state of a child between infancy and adolescence

   babyhood, infancy

   the earliest state of immaturity

   type of:

   state

   the way something is with respect to its main attributes