Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb develop

21 senses of develop

Sense 1
develop -- (make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation; "Her company developed a new kind of building material that withstands all kinds of weather"; "They developed a new technique")
       => create -- (bring into existence; "The company was created 25 years ago"; "He created a new movement in painting")

Sense 2
evolve, germinate, develop -- (work out; "We have developed a new theory of evolution")
       => create by mental act, create mentally -- (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Sense 3
develop, acquire, evolve -- (gain through experience; "I acquired a strong aversion to television"; "Children must develop a sense of right and wrong"; "Dave developed leadership qualities in his new position"; "develop a passion for painting")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 4
grow, develop, produce, get, acquire -- (come to have or undergo a change of (physical features and attributes); "He grew a beard"; "The patient developed abdominal pains"; "I got funny spots all over my body"; "Well-developed breasts")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 5
originate, arise, rise, develop, uprise, spring up, grow -- (come into existence; take on form or shape; "A new religious movement originated in that country"; "a love that sprang up from friendship"; "the idea for the book grew out of a short story"; "An interesting phenomenon uprose")
       => become -- (come into existence; "What becomes has duration")

Sense 6
build up, develop -- (change the use of and make available or usable; "develop land"; "The country developed its natural resources"; "The remote areas of the country were gradually built up")
       => better, improve, amend, ameliorate, meliorate -- (to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes")

Sense 7
explicate, formulate, develop -- (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses; "Could you develop the ideas in your thesis")
       => speculate, theorize, theorise, conjecture, hypothesize, hypothesise, hypothecate, suppose -- (to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps")

Sense 8
train, develop, prepare, educate -- (create by training and teaching; "The old master is training world-class violinists"; "we develop the leaders for the future")
       => teach, learn, instruct -- (impart skills or knowledge to; "I taught them French"; "He instructed me in building a boat")

Sense 9
develop -- (be gradually disclosed or unfolded; become manifest; "The plot developed slowly";)
       => happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place -- (come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed important")

Sense 10
develop -- (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment; "A flower developed on the branch"; "The country developed into a mighty superpower"; "The embryo develops into a fetus"; "This situation has developed over a long time")
       => grow -- (become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain; "The problem grew too large for me"; "Her business grew fast")

Sense 11
modernize, modernise, develop -- (become technologically advanced; "Many countries in Asia are now developing at a very fast pace"; "Viet Nam is modernizing rapidly")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 12
develop, make grow -- (cause to grow and differentiate in ways conforming to its natural development; "The perfect climate here develops the grain"; "He developed a new kind of apple")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 13
develop -- (generate gradually; "We must develop more potential customers"; "develop a market for the new mobile phone")
       => generate, bring forth -- (bring into existence; "The new manager generated a lot of problems"; "The computer bug generated chaos in the office"; "The computer generated this image"; "The earthquake generated a tsunami")

Sense 14
develop, grow -- (grow emotionally or mature; "The child developed beautifully in her new kindergarten"; "When he spent a summer at camp, the boy grew noticeably and no longer showed some of his old adolescent behavior")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 15
develop -- (make visible by means of chemical solutions; "Please develop this roll of film for me")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 16
develop -- (superimpose a three-dimensional surface on a plane without stretching, in geometry)
       => superimpose, superpose, lay over -- (place on top of; "can you superimpose the two images?")

Sense 17
develop -- (move one's pieces into strategically more advantageous positions; "Spassky developed quickly")
       => play -- (participate in games or sport; "We played hockey all afternoon"; "play cards"; "Pele played for the Brazilian teams in many important matches")

Sense 18
develop -- (move into a strategically more advantageous position; "develop the rook")
       => play -- (participate in games or sport; "We played hockey all afternoon"; "play cards"; "Pele played for the Brazilian teams in many important matches")

Sense 19
develop -- (elaborate by the unfolding of a musical idea and by the working out of the rhythmic and harmonic changes in the theme; "develop the melody and change the key")
       => complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate -- (make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or pattern")

Sense 20
break, recrudesce, develop -- (happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time")
       => happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place -- (come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed important")

Sense 21
develop -- (expand in the form of a series; "Develop the function in the following form")
       => expand -- (make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity; "expand the house by adding another wing")

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