premature

premature — adjective

1. coming, happening, or being decided before the right stage, when more time is st

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

coming, happening, or being decided before the right stage, when more time is still needed.

Example

The coach called the party premature after only one goal.

premature + celebration or party

A premature decision cost the shop money before the sales numbers arrived.

premature decision = made before enough information

Common collocations
  • premature decision
  • premature announcement
  • premature celebration
  • premature claim
  • premature death
Synonyms
  • early

    broader and often neutral; premature suggests a problem with timing

  • hasty

    stresses rushing, especially in decisions

  • untimely

    more formal; often used for deaths or endings

  • ill-timed

    focuses on bad timing in a particular situation

Antonyms
  • timely

    arriving at a useful or suitable moment

  • well-timed

    chosen for exactly the right moment

Usage Note

Often used for decisions, announcements, celebrations, claims, or endings. Distinguish from sense 2: this sense is about timing in general, not specifically about a baby or birth before full term.

Common Mistakes

The cake was premature.
The celebration was premature.
this sense usually describes actions, events, or judgments, not ordinary objects by themselves.
We made an early conclusion.
We made a premature conclusion.
'early' can be neutral, but 'premature' shows that something happened before the right time.

2. describing a baby or birth that comes before the pregnancy has reached full term

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing a baby or birth that comes before the pregnancy has reached full term.

Example

Nurses placed the premature baby in a warm glass box.

collocation: premature baby

Mina went to hospital when premature labor began in week thirty-four.

collocation: premature labor

Common collocations
  • premature baby
  • premature birth
  • premature labor
  • premature delivery
Synonyms
  • preterm

    medical word commonly used by doctors and hospitals

  • early-born

    plain descriptive wording, but much less common than premature

Antonyms
  • full-term

    born after the usual length of pregnancy

Usage Note

Usually used with baby, birth, labor, or delivery, and common in medical contexts. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is tied to pregnancy and birth, not to plans, decisions, or events in general.

Common Mistakes

My sister is premature because she came early to dinner.
My sister arrived early for dinner.
this sense is only for babies, births, or labor before full term.
The baby was early.
The baby was premature.
in medical situations, 'premature' is the clearer word for a baby born before full term.

Word family

  • prematurely
    adverbC1
  • prematurity
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

For sense 1, premature is best when something comes before the right point and therefore feels too soon. Early is broader and can be neutral or even good, so an early train or an early start is not necessarily a problem. Hasty adds the idea of rushing, especially when a person decides without enough thought. Untimely is more formal and often appears with deaths, endings, or interruptions. Ill-timed focuses on poor timing in a specific moment, such as a joke, question, or announcement. You can say The announcement was premature if more facts were needed, The reply was hasty if it was rushed, and His joke was ill-timed at the funeral.

early ↗hastyuntimelyill-timed

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Premature comes from Latin praematurus, a word for something that ripens or arrives too early. It is built from prae, meaning before, and maturus, meaning ripe or timely. English kept that idea of not being ready yet, which is why the word can describe both a decision made too soon and a baby born before full term.