The Collaborative International Dictionary
Development \De*vel"op*ment\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]veloppement.]
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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. (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.
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(Math.)
The act or process of changing or expanding an expression into another of equivalent value or meaning.
The equivalent expression into which another has been developed.
(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.
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A tract of land on which a number of buildings have been constructed; -- especially used for tract on which from two to hundreds of houses have been constructed by a commercial developer[4] for sale to individuals.
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.
Wikipedia
Development theory is a conglomeration or a collective vision of theories about how desirable change in society is best achieved. Such theories draw on a variety of social science disciplines and approaches. In this article, multiple theories are discussed, as are recent developments with regard to these theories.
Usage examples of "development theory".
What I mean by that is that if the advance communication explanation of the phenomenon should prove correct, it would have the most decisive effect upon the thesis I was preparing for my Penultimate Degree-not to mention the implications of such a discovery for Development Theory in general.
Still, so unanimous and so decisive has been the testimony of geologists in respect to the evidence furnished by the fossil remains, and so inconsistent is it with the development theory, as it is called, that very great changes must take place in the opinion of naturalists in respect to the true import of the geological records before this opinion can be generally received.