developer

American  

[dih-vel-uh-per] / dɪˈvɛl ə pər /

noun

1. a person or thing that develops or innovates.

   a software developer.

2. Photography. a reducing agent or solution for developing a film or the like.

3. a person who invests in and develops the urban or suburban potentialities of real estate, especially by subdividing the land into home sites and then building houses and selling them.

4. Shipbuilding. a person who lays out at full size the lines of a vessel and prepares templates from them.

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developer British  

/ dɪˈvɛləpə /

noun

1. a person or thing that develops something, esp a person who develops property

2. photog a solution of a chemical reducing agent that converts the latent image recorded in the emulsion of a film or paper into a visible image

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Etymology

Origin of developer

First recorded in 1825–35; develop + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Raman pushed back on that narrative, saying she provided key assistance to Bass in 2022, helping her defeat real estate developer Rick Caruso.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

A developer recently filed paperwork to turn Southern Vermont College—closed in 2019—into a luxury resort.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

The action has already prompted a lawsuit against Hill County and its three commissioners by a data center developer seeking $100 million in damages.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026

But developer Fenris Creations calculates losses to be more in the region of £400,000 - stressing this is not an "official figure".

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026

Its developer was Ernest Lawrence, who had shared his boyhood fascination with electric gadgetry with Merle Tuve, his schoolmate and friend from across the street in a compact South Dakota town named Canton.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• builder
• planner