develop
verb (used with object)
to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state.
had been developing
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past perfect progressiveof develop.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
Heder had been developing “Being Heumann” before “CODA” was released.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Those measurements gave researchers a detailed view of changes that had been developing months before the eventual calving event.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
They mixed cells that had been developing for a year together with others that were only two weeks old, creating a "chimera".
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Two companies announced on Thursday that the heart-disease drug they had been developing failed its Phase 3 trial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The early farmers of the Fertile Crescent and China were heirs to the technology that behaviorially modern Homo sapiens had been developing to exploit local resources in those areas for tens of thousands of years.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
