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

“Whether or not Mythos is a hacker superweapon really is immaterial to the conversation,” says Dave Lewis, global advisory chief information-security officer at the password-manager developer 1Password.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026

The game design award went to Tonda Ros, the solo developer behind puzzle adventure Blue Prince.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

In addition to its work with collaborators like International Business Machines, Nvidia is the developer behind CUDA-Q, a hybrid programming platform designed to integrate quantum processors with GPUs and CPUs.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

“If you have a software-engineering degree, rather than focusing only on traditional developer roles, you could consider growth areas like artificial intelligence, data infrastructure, cybersecurity and cloud computing. Many skills apply across industries,” Puri said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

A private developer wanted to build the new units on a twenty-two-acre site on Bacon Street in the middle-class section of Hayti.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• builder
• planner