- to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state: to develop natural resources; to develop one's musical talent.
- to cause to grow or expand: to develop one's muscles.
- to elaborate or expand in detail: to develop a theory.
- to bring into being or activity; generate; evolve.
- to transfer the details of (a more or less two-dimensional design, pattern, or the like) from one surface, especially one that is prismatic or cylindrical, onto another, usually planar, in such a way that the distances between points remain the same.
- Biology.
- to cause to go through the process of natural evolution from a previous and lower stage.
- to cause to progress from an embryonic to an adult form.
- to express in an extended form, as in a series.
- to unfold, by various technical means, the inherent possibilities of (a theme).
- Photography.
- to render visible (the latent image on an exposed film or the like).
- to treat (an exposed film or the like) with chemicals so as to render the latent image visible.
- to bring (a piece) into effective play, especially during the initial phase of a game when pieces are moved from their original position on the board: He developed his rook by castling.
- to prepare (a new mine) for working by digging access openings and building necessary structures.
- to grow into a more mature or advanced state; advance; expand: She is developing into a good reporter.
- to come gradually into existence or operation; be evolved.
- to be disclosed; become evident or manifest: The plot of the novel developed slowly.
- to undergo developing, as a photographic film.
- Biology.
- to progress from an embryonic to an adult form.
- to progress from earlier to later stages of ontogeny or phylogeny.
- to reach sexual maturity.
- to come or bring to a later or more advanced or expanded stage; grow or cause to grow gradually
- to elaborate or work out in detail
- to disclose or unfold (thoughts, a plot, etc) gradually or (of thoughts, etc) to be gradually disclosed or unfolded
- to come or bring into existence; generate or be generated
- to follow as a result (of); ensue (from)
- to contract (a disease or illness)
- to improve the value or change the use of (land), as by building
- to exploit or make available the natural resources of (a country or region)
- (tr) photog
- to treat (film, plate, or paper previously exposed to light, or the latent image in such material) with chemical solutions in order to produce a visible image
- to process (photographic material) in order to produce negatives and prints
- to progress or cause to progress from simple to complex stages in the growth of an individual or the evolution of a species
- to elaborate upon (a musical theme) by varying the melody, key, etc
- to expand (a function or expression) in the form of a series
- to project or roll out (a surface) onto a plane without stretching or shrinking any element
- to bring (a piece) into play from its initial position on the back rank
- to disclose or reveal
