develop

verb

di-VEL-uhp/dɪˈvɛl.əp/

Formsdevelops, developing, developed

12 meanings of develop

Practice

1
evolveverbtransitive or intransitive
To grow or change gradually, becoming larger, more advanced, or more complete.
Most mammals develop through clearly defined embryonic stages.
The plot of the novel developed slowly across its opening chapters.
UsageChange is usually told with from and into: a storm develops into a hurricane. Fully developed marks a finished stage.
Note
Richard Owen, lecturing on invertebrate anatomy in 1843, notes that insects gain jointed legs "before the wings are fully developed."
2
createverbtransitive
To create something new, such as a product, plan, or method, through thought or work.
Researchers develop new materials for use in spacecraft.
The studio developed three new games last year.
Similarcreate, design, devise, produce, invent
3
start havingverbtransitive
To come to have something, such as a quality, reputation, or condition, usually gradually rather than all at once.
He developed a reputation for honesty over many years.
Patients sometimes develop resistance to certain drugs.
UsageCommon pairings: develop an interest in something, a taste for something, a habit of doing something.
Similaracquire, gain, earn, form, establish
Oppositelose
4
verbtransitive
To advance or further something, promoting its growth or progress.
The foundation works to develop local industries.
Years of training developed his remarkable endurance.
Similarfoster, promote, nurture, strengthen
Oppositehinder, stifle, stunt
5
verbintransitive
Of a problem, illness, storm, or situation: to arise or begin to take shape, sometimes becoming stronger or more serious.
Hurricanes often develop over warm ocean water late in the summer.
A serious infection developed in the wound within a few days of the surgery.
UsageThe trouble is the subject: an infection develops. For sudden events, such as an accident, say it happens instead.
Similarform, emerge, arise
Oppositeweaken
6
build on landverbtransitive
To put up homes, offices, or other buildings on a piece of land, or to get land ready for construction.
Investors are seeking permission to develop the old rail yard as offices and apartments.
Much of the coastline has already been developed, leaving few wild beaches.
UsageThe object is usually the land: you build a house but develop a site. Undeveloped land has no buildings yet.
Similarbuild
7
verbtransitive
To expand an idea, argument, story, or theme by working out its details more fully.
The editors asked him to develop his closing argument with more evidence before publication.
The composer takes a simple four-note theme and develops it across all four movements.
Similarexpand, elaborate
Note
Music gives this sense its most exact form: developing a theme means transforming and restating it, and in sonata form the development is the middle section, between the exposition and the recapitulation. Here the verb takes the idea as its object; when the idea is the subject (the plot develops slowly), the meaning drifts toward growing through stages.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Developing a musical theme involves transforming and restating it. en.wikipedia.org
In sonata form, the development comes between the exposition and the recapitulation. open.lib.umn.edu

Less common meanings

8
photo filmverbtransitive
To treat exposed photographic film with chemicals, bringing out the latent images.
She developed the negatives herself that weekend.
Photographers develop their own film for greater control over the result.
UsageYou can develop the film or the photos; you get or have photos developed when a shop does it.
Similarprocess
Note
Photography brings back the unwrapping behind the "uncover" meaning. The image is already on the film, hidden, and developing reveals it rather than making it.
9
chessverbtransitive
To bring one's chess pieces into active, useful positions during the opening.
Good players develop their minor pieces before launching an attack.
He developed his bishop to put pressure on the center.
Similardeploy, mobilize
Note
A chess player's word, and its object is usually one's own piece: you develop a bishop or a knight. The verb carries a judgment. A piece still on its starting square is usually undeveloped, and getting it into play early counts as good opening technique.
10
uncoververbarchaictransitive
To discover or find out something; to uncover what was hidden.
Note
The oldest picture in the word is unwrapping. French développer joins des- to voloper, "to wrap," so to develop a mystery was to take its covering off. A speaker in Charlotte Smith's Celestina (1791) still mentions "the mystery which I cannot develop"; that transitive use is now archaic. What survives is the impersonal construction, as in "it developed that the defendant had never really investigated," meaning "it came to light."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The underlying image is unwrapping: French développer derives from des- plus a verb meaning 'to wrap'. en.wiktionary.org
Charlotte Smith wrote Celestina, first published in 1791. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted words occur as a character's words in Celestina. en.wiktionary.org
The defendant example is an attested quotation illustrating the impersonal discovery sense. en.wiktionary.org
11
verb
To change the form of an algebraic expression by carrying out indicated operations without altering its value.
12
verb
In snooker or pool, to move a ball into a more open position so it can be played more easily on a later shot.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of develop apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Borrowed from French développer, going back through Old French desveloper to des- plus veloper ("to wrap"), from a Vulgar Latin root ultimately traced to Proto-Germanic and the Proto-Indo-European *werb- ("to turn, bend"). Its modern meaning grew out of a 17th-century idea: that an egg holds the animal already formed in miniature, which matures by getting bigger and casting off its envelopes.