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say it: di-VEL-uhp-muhnt
development is a noun meaning "act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining". It carries 9 recorded senses.
act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining
“he congratulated them on their development of a plan to meet the emergency”
“they funded research and development”
a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)
“the development of his ideas took many years”
“the evolution of Greek civilization”
“the slow development of her skill as a writer”
(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level
“he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children”
biology
a recent event that has some relevance for the present situation
“recent developments in Iraq”
“what a revolting development!”
the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful
“the development of Alaskan resources”
“the exploitation of copper deposits”
a district that has been developed to serve some purpose
“such land is practical for small park developments”
a state in which things are improving; the result of developing (as in the early part of a game of chess)
“after he saw the latest development he changed his mind and became a supporter”
“in chess your should take care of your development before moving your queen”
chess
processing a photosensitive material in order to make an image visible
“the development and printing of his pictures took only two hours”
(music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes are developed and elaborated
music
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for development come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.