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

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

He led an aggressive expansion, turning the company into the country’s largest residential developer by sales.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

He’s a rich real estate developer who quit the race in November after an unsung yearlong campaign.

From Los Angeles Times • 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

In any case, despite the anti- climactic results, the test results were interpreted by the AEC as validating Livermore’s role as the developer of “new ideas” in thermonuclear technology.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• builder
• planner