development

Noun

development (countable and uncountable, plural developments)

1. (uncountable) The process of developing; growth, directed change.
   • The development of this story has been slow.
   • Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers...2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34

   Synonyms:

   conversion, metamorphosis, transformation, transfiguration, transfigurement, transmogrification, transmutation, sea change

2. (uncountable) The process by which a mature multicellular organism or part of an organism is produced by the addition of new cells.
   • The organism has reached a crucial stage in its development.
   • Of more significance in the nature of branch development; in the Jubulaceae, as in the Porellaceae, branches are acroscopic and normally replace a ventral leaf lobe.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 5
3. (countable) Something which has developed.
   • Our news team brings you the latest developments.
   • up-to-date with new developments in IT
4. (countable) A project consisting of one or more commercial or residential buildings.
5. (uncountable) The building of such a project.
6. (uncountable) The application of new ideas to practical problems (cf. research).
   • Our development department has produced three new adhesives this year.
7. (uncountable) The active placement of the pieces, or the process of achieving it.
   • White's development is good, but black's has been hampered by the pawn on e5.
8. The process by in which previous material is transformed and restated.
9. The second section of a piece of music in sonata form, in which the original theme is revisited in altered and varying form.
10. The expression of a function in the form of a series.
11. The processing of photographic film so as to bring out the images latent in it.
    • I sent the film to a specialist lab for development.