Immaturity

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɪməˈt͡ʃʊɹɪti/

Definitions

1. The state of lacking development in emotional or cognitive areas
2. The condition of not being fully developed physically or mentally ; the failure to exhibit expected adult emotional or intellectual behavior
3. A state in which a person or thing has not reached full growth or advancement ; the inability to behave with adult emotional control or insight

Etymology: Immaturity is a plain borrowing rather than a story of invention: English took it directly from the Latin "immātūritātem," the accusative form of "immātūritās," a noun built from "immātūrus," meaning "unripe" or "not yet mature." That Latin adjective is itself a negated form, combining the prefix "in-" ("not") with "mātūrus" ("ripe, mature"), so the word's core image is fruit that has not yet ripened. The same "mātūrus" root gave English "mature," which came into the language earlier and by a more direct route. The Latin noun's ending "-tās" is the standard suffix that turns an adjective into an abstract noun of state or quality, as in "brevity" or "liberty." Attaching it to the negated adjective produced a noun for the condition of not being ripe, and in English that sense has been carried over from fruit and crops to people and behaviour, so the word now describes a person who has not yet reached full development.

Synonyms: childishness, youthfulness, inexperience, naivety, juvenility

Antonyms: maturity, sophistication, adulthood, wisdom, experience