Prematurely

How to spell prematurely

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce prematurely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prematurely mean?

1. adverbAt a time earlier than is normal, expected, or appropriate.

Prematurely in a sentence

• The new manager acted prematurely and announced the merger before it was confirmed.

• The baby was born prematurely and spent two weeks in the hospital.

Where does prematurely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin maturus, which literally meant 'ripe' or 'timely', as in fruit that has come fully into season; the related verb maturare meant 'to ripen' or 'to bring to readiness'. Latin attached the prefix prae, meaning 'before' or 'ahead of time', to form praematurus, describing something that ripened too early. English took 'premature' in the sixteenth century, first in the literal sense of fruit and later for anything happening sooner than it should, and the adverb 'prematurely' simply adds the ordinary -ly ending. The 'matur' core also survives in the everyday words 'mature' and 'maturity', which keep the same Latin root for ripeness. The common spelling trap is the unstressed middle vowel and the silent 'e' before the -ly, since the word is built on 'mature' plus '-ly' rather than dropping any letters.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• matur (ripe, from Latin maturus 'ripe, timely')
• -e
• -ly (adverb suffix)