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"
(music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes are developed and elaborated
a recent event that has some relevance for the present situation; "recent developments in Iraq"; "what a revolting development!"
a district that has been developed to serve some purpose; "such land is practical for small park developments"
processing a photosensitive material in order to make an image visible; "the development and printing of his pictures took only two hours"
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"
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"
a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations; "in England they call a period a stop"
the end or completion of something; "death put a period to his endeavors"; "a change soon put a period to my tranquility"
a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed; "ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods"
one of three periods of play in hockey games
the interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenon
a stage in the history of a culture having a definable place in space and time; "a novel from the Victorian period"
one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to constitute a whole object; "a section of a fishing rod"; "metal sections were used below ground"; "finished the final segment of the road"
a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical); "he always turns first to the business section"; "the history of this work is discussed in the next section"
a segment of a citrus fruit; "he ate a section of the orange"
a small team of policemen working as part of a police platoon
a small army unit usually having a special function
a division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the same class
(geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a solid
a distinct region or subdivision of a territorial or political area or community or group of people; "no section of the nation is more ardent than the South"; "there are three synagogues in the Jewish section"
a very thin slice (of tissue or mineral or other substance) for examination under a microscope; "sections from the left ventricle showed diseased tissue"
a land unit of 1 square mile measuring 1 mile on a side
the act of forcing something out by squeezing or pressing; "the expression of milk from her breast"
the feelings expressed on a person's face; "a sad expression"; "a look of triumph"; "an angry face"
expression without words; "tears are an expression of grief"; "the pulse is a reflection of the heart's condition"
the communication (in speech or writing) of your beliefs or opinions; "expressions of good will"; "he helped me find verbal expression for my ideas"; "the idea was immediate but the verbalism took hours"
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work; "it was the usual `boy gets girl' theme"
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"
provide with a particular theme or motive; "the restaurant often themes its menus"