- present participle of develop.
developing
Americanadjective
-
undergoing development; growing; evolving.
-
(of a nation or geographical area) having a standard of living or level of industrial production well below that possible with financial or technical aid; not yet highly industrialized.
the developing world.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of developing
Explanation
Use the adjective developing to describe a country that's relatively poor and has a lower standard of living than most other countries in the world. There's not a specific standard for calling a country developing, but there are some societies that most of the world agrees are less industrialized than most. Developing countries generally have poorer people and a less vibrant economy than more developed countries. Some countries object to being called developing, since it implies that all countries want to become "developed," or more Western in their economy and government, which is not necessarily true.
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.
Behind the red-brick facades at the plant in Wolverhampton, western England -- once typical of the UK's industrial heartlands -- Safran is developing its new business of actuation systems.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Now, however, his company, Sharrow Engineering, is focusing on developing "ultra-quiet" drone rotors.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
It was meant to allow Anthropic to lease specialized chips that Broadcom is developing with Google.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
On Monday, Nevada’s mother started a fundraiser to cover registration fees, training, equipment, uniforms and travel expenses for him to continue developing his talent in a “more supportive setting.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
English mathematicians fell far behind their Continental counterparts when it came to developing calculus.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
