Hypertext Webster Gateway: "development"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Development \De*vel"op*ment\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]veloppement.]
[Written also {developement}.]
1. The act of developing or disclosing that which is unknown;
a gradual unfolding process by which anything is
developed, as a plan or method, or an image upon a
photographic plate; gradual advancement or growth through
a series of progressive changes; also, the result of
developing, or a developed state.
A new development of imagination, taste, and poetry.
--Channing.
2. (Biol.) The series of changes which animal and vegetable
organisms undergo in their passage from the embryonic
state to maturity, from a lower to a higher state of
organization.
3. (Math.)
(a) The act or process of changing or expanding an
expression into another of equivalent value or
meaning.
(b) The equivalent expression into which another has been
developed.
4. (mus.) The elaboration of a theme or subject; the
unfolding of a musical idea; the evolution of a whole
piece or movement from a leading theme or motive.
{Development theory} (Biol.), the doctrine that animals and
plants possess the power of passing by slow and successive
stages from a lower to a higher state of organization, and
that all the higher forms of life now in existence were
thus developed by uniform laws from lower forms, and are
not the result of special creative acts. See the Note
under {Darwinian}.
Syn: Unfolding; disclosure; unraveling; evolution;
elaboration; growth.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
development
n 1: 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"
2: 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" [syn: {evolution}]
3: a recent event that has some relevance for the present
situation; "recent developments in Iraq"; "what a
revolting development!"
4: 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" [syn: {exploitation}]
5: a district that has been developed to serve some purpose;
"such land is practical for small park developments"
6: 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"
7: 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" [syn: {growth}, {growing}, {maturation},
{ontogeny}, {ontogenesis}] [ant: {nondevelopment}]
8: processing a photosensitive material in order to make an
image visible; "the development and printing of his
pictures took only two hours" [syn: {developing}]
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