1. Fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used
   "ripe peaches";
   - mature
    
2. At the highest point of development especially in judgment or knowledge
   "a ripe mind"
    
3. Fully prepared or eager
   "the colonists were ripe for revolution"
    
4. Most suitable or right for a particular purpose
   "the time is ripe for great sociological changes";
   - good, right
    
5. Far along in time
   "a ripe old age"; "the ripe age of 90";
   - advanced
    
6. [informal] Conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
   "a ripe joke";
   - crude, earthy, gross, vulgar, coarse, salty
    
7. [informal] Giving off a strong unpleasant smell
   "The ripe cheese had a powerful odour";
   - reeking, miasmatic
    
8. (of cheese) aged sufficiently to develop a strong flavour
   "The ripe Brie had a pungent aroma"

Derived forms: ripest, riper

See also: aged, ill-smelling, indecent, late, malodorous, malodourous [Brit, Cdn, non-standard], mature, mellow, mellowed, minging [Brit, informal], niffy [Brit, informal], opportune, overripe, pongy [Brit, informal], ready, ripened, stinky [informal], unpleasant-smelling, whiffy [Brit, informal]

Encyclopedia: Ripe, Sussex