happening, arriving, existing, or performed before the proper or usual time
The question now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or run our chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven — Conan Doyle
said of a human baby: born three or more weeks before the end of the normal gestation period
hasty or impulsive
prematurely adv
prematureness noun
prematurity noun
[Latin praematurus too early, from prae- + maturus ripe, mature1]