| noun | act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining “he congratulated them on their development of a plan to meet the emergency” |
| noun | a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage) “the development of his ideas took many years” |
| noun | (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level “he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children” |
| noun | a recent event that has some relevance for the present situation “recent developments in Iraq” |
| noun | the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful “the development of Alaskan resources” |
| noun | a district that has been developed to serve some purpose “such land is practical for small park developments” |
| noun | a state in which things are improving; the result of developing (as in the early part of a game of chess) “after he saw the latest development he changed his mind and became a supporter” |
| noun | processing a photosensitive material in order to make an image visible “the development and printing of his pictures took only two hours” |
| noun | (music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes are developed and elaborated |
| develop | verb | make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation |
| evolve | verb | undergo development or evolution |
| grow | verb | increase in size by natural process |
| maturational | adjective | relating to or involved in maturation |
| mature | verb | grow old or older |
| maturate | verb | grow old or older |
| developmental | adjective | of or relating to or constituting development |
| ontogenetic | adjective | of or relating to the origin and development of individual organisms |
| exploit | verb | work excessively hard |