📒 to gradually grow or become bigger, more advanced, stronger, etc.; to make something do this
- From birth to age 5, a child's brain develops rapidly.
- Some children develop more slowly than others.
- develop into something Gradually these settlements developed into cities.
📒 to start to have a skill, ability, quality, etc. that becomes better and stronger; to become better and stronger
- He's developed a real flair for management.
- Their relationship has developed over a number of years.
- He is trying hard to develop a loving relationship with his daughter.
📒 to think of or produce a new idea, product, etc. and make it successful
- The company develops and markets new software.
- It takes time to develop new technology.
- We are developing products for different parts of the industry.
📒 to begin to have something such as a disease or a problem; to start to affect somebody/something
- She developed lung cancer at the age of sixty.
- Her son developed asthma when he was two.
- The car developed engine trouble and we had to stop.
📒 to start to happen or change, especially in a bad way
- A crisis was rapidly developing in the Gulf.
- We need more time to see how things develop before we take action.
- develop into something The conflict quickly developed into full-scale war.
📒 to build new houses, factories, etc. on an area of land, especially land that was not being used effectively before
- The site is being developed by a French company.
- A lot of residents in town feel that it would be tragic if the land were developed for residential use.
- They have not yet received any applications for planning permission to develop the site.
📒 to build or improve a building or other facilities
- The company is developing a chain of hotels.
- He is enthusiastic about plans to develop the leisure facilities at the site.
📒 to become economically and socially more advanced
- For a country to develop, a good road network is essential.
- Their economy was developing at an incredible pace.
📒 to add further explanation or details to an idea, story or musical theme
- She develops the theme more fully in her later books.
- The piano then takes up the melody and develops it.
- He began to develop these ideas in a series of paintings.
📒 to treat film that has been used to take photographs with chemicals so that the pictures can be seen
- When Lewis developed the film, he was astonished by what he saw.