De*vel"op*ment (?), n.
[Cf. F. développement.]
[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.
Hear it pronounced