Definition

1. Verb:
   • To grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate: This is the core meaning, indicating a process of growth, expansion, or advancement over time.
   • To start to exist, experience, or possess: To bring something into being or to begin to have a particular quality, feature, or problem.
   • To treat a photographic film with chemicals to make a visible image: A specific technical process in photography.
   • To elaborate or expand in detail: To work out or create the details of something, such as an idea or plan.
   • To bring (a piece) into more effective position in chess: A specific usage in the game of chess.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The child began to develop language skills rapidly. (The child's language abilities grew and became more advanced.)
  • Scientists are working to develop a new vaccine. (Scientists are working to create and bring a new vaccine into existence.)
  • I need to develop this film from my old camera. (I need to chemically process this film to see the pictures.)
  • The author spent years to develop the characters in her novel. (The author worked out the details and depth of the characters over a long period.)
  • It's important to develop your knights and bishops early in the game. (It's strategically important to move these chess pieces to more active positions.)

Advanced Usage

• "to develop from/into something": to grow or evolve from one state into another.
  • The small startup developed into a multinational corporation.
• "to develop an interest/a taste for something": to gradually begin to like or become interested in something.
  • He developed a taste for classical music during his studies.
• "a developing country": a poor or less industrialized nation that is seeking to become more advanced economically and socially. (Note: This is a common compound term listed here as it is a major fixed phrase.)
  • International aid is often directed toward developing countries.

Variants and Related Words

• Developer (n): 1. A person or company that creates new products, especially software or buildings. 2. A chemical substance used to develop photographic film.
  • A software developer created the app.
  • He poured the developer onto the photographic paper.
• Development (n): 1. The process of developing or being developed. 2. A new event or stage in a changing situation. 3. An area of land with new buildings.
  • The development of new technology is constant.
  • There have been new developments in the case.
  • They live in a new housing development.
• Developed (adj): Advanced and powerful in terms of economy and industry.
  • Japan is a developed nation.
• Developing (adj): In the process of becoming more advanced.
  • She showed a developing talent for painting.

Synonyms

• Evolve: To develop gradually, especially from a simple to a more complex form.
• Cultivate: To try to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment, or skill).
• Formulate: To create or prepare methodically.
• Expand: To become or make larger or more extensive.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Develop from: To have something as an origin or starting point.
  • This theory developed from years of observation.
• Develop into: To gradually become something.
  • Their friendship developed into a deep love.

Related Idioms

• A developed sense of...: A strong or well-formed understanding or feeling.
  • As a chef, he has a developed sense of taste and smell.
• In development: Currently being worked on or created.
  • The new model is still in development and won't be released for another year.

Verb

1. expand in the form of a series
   • Develop the function in the following form
2. happen
   • Report the news as it develops
   • These political movements recrudesce from time to time
3. elaborate by the unfolding of a musical idea and by the working out of the rhythmic and harmonic changes in the theme
   • develop the melody and change the key
4. move into a strategically more advantageous position
   • develop the rook
5. move one's pieces into strategically more advantageous positions
   • Spassky developed quickly
6. superimpose a three-dimensional surface on a plane without stretching, in geometry
7. make visible by means of chemical solutions
   • Please develop this roll of film for me
8. grow emotionally or mature
   • The child developed beautifully in her new kindergarten
   • When he spent a summer at camp, the boy grew noticeably and no longer showed some of his old adolescent behavior
9. generate gradually
   • We must develop more potential customers
   • develop a market for the new mobile phone
10. cause to grow and differentiate in ways conforming to its natural development
    • The perfect climate here develops the grain
    • He developed a new kind of apple
11. become technologically advanced
    • Many countries in Asia are now developing at a very fast pace
    • Viet Nam is modernizing rapidly
12. grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment
    • A flower developed on the branch
    • The country developed into a mighty superpower
    • The embryo develops into a fetus
    • This situation has developed over a long time
13. be gradually disclosed or unfolded; become manifest;
    • The plot developed slowly
14. create by training and teaching
    • The old master is training world-class violinists
    • we develop the leaders for the future
15. elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses
    • Could you develop the ideas in your thesis
16. change the use of and make available or usable
    • develop land
    • The country developed its natural resources
    • The remote areas of the country were gradually built up
17. come into existence; take on form or shape
    • A new religious movement originated in that country
    • a love that sprang up from friendship
    • the idea for the book grew out of a short story
    • An interesting phenomenon uprose
18. come to have or undergo a change of (physical features and attributes)
    • He grew a beard
    • The patient developed abdominal pains
    • I got funny spots all over my body
    • Well-developed breasts
19. gain through experience
    • I acquired a strong aversion to television
    • Children must develop a sense of right and wrong
    • Dave developed leadership qualities in his new position
    • develop a passion for painting
20. work out
    • We have developed a new theory of evolution
21. make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation
    • Her company developed a new kind of building material that withstands all kinds of weather
    • They developed a new technique