development
Americannoun
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developments
plural
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the act or process of developing; growth; progress.
child development; economic development.
- Synonyms:
- maturation, opening, evolution, growth, elaboration, expansion
- Antonyms:
- disintegration, deterioration
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a significant consequence or event.
recent developments in the field of science.
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a developed or advanced state or form.
Drama reached its highest development in the plays of Shakespeare.
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Music. the part of a movement or composition in which a theme or themes are developed, or unfolded and elaborated, by various technical means, so as to reveal their inherent possibilities.
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a large group of private houses or of apartment houses, often of similar design, constructed as a unified community, especially by a real-estate developer or government organization.
- Synonyms:
- subdivision, community
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Chess. the act or process of developing chess pieces.
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Mining. the work of digging openings, as tunnels, raises, and winzes, to give access to new workings, and of erecting necessary structures.
noun
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the act or process of growing, progressing, or developing
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the product or result of developing
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a fact, event, or happening, esp one that changes a situation
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an area or tract of land that has been developed
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Also called: development section. the section of a movement, usually in sonata form, in which the basic musical themes are developed
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chess
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the process of developing pieces
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the manner in which they are developed
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the position of the pieces in the early part of a game with reference to their attacking potential or defensive efficiency
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hyperdevelopmentnoun
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nondevelopmentnoun
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predevelopmentnoun
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self-developmentnoun
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subdevelopmentnoun
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superdevelopmentnoun
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undevelopmentnoun
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antidevelopmentadjective
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developmentaladjective
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developmentaryadjective
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hyperdevelopmentaladjective
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nondevelopmentaladjective
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postdevelopmentaladjective
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undevelopmentaladjective
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developmentallyadverb
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nondevelopmentallyadverb
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undevelopmentallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of development
First recorded in 1745–55; develop + -ment, or from French développement
Explanation
Development is the act of improving by expanding, enlarging, or refining. The merging of two university departments might lead to the development of a new curriculum. There are many other definitions for this noun, too. Real estate development is the conversion of land or property to a specific use, like housing or retail space. To grow up, we pass through many stages of development, from infancy to old age. Breaking news is often followed by developments, that is, recent events or information that's relevant to the story.
Vocabulary lists containing development
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 6
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 5
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While these fears go back decades, claims made last week by Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic employee, went viral and were echoed by others in the sector who urged a slowdown in development.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Its chips are at the heart of the development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Today’s frontier progress is increasingly driven by test-time workloads and software development surrounding AI rather than just raw model training, according to Gupta.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills that will overhaul the landmark California Environmental Quality Act in an effort to streamline housing development in the state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
It might seem intuitive for an embryologist to approach the problem of genesis forward—from the earliest events in the embryo to the development of a body plan of a full-fledged organism.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Some were cut for developments, some were cut down illegally.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The developments add to risks around Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export route as the kingdom works to restore the East-West Pipeline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
A Rosenblatt Securities analyst pointed to two developments at neocloud providers — cloud companies that are purpose-built to offer AI services — that he thinks are supportive of a robust spending landscape going forward.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Virgin Media O2 recently called for urgent reform after being "forced" to switch off dozens of mobile sites across London because of new building developments.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
If we could understand the reasons for the disparate development of those two island societies, we might have a model for understanding the broader question of differing developments on the continents.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
