Develops

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To grow or enhance something into a more advanced state over time
2. To gradually grow or improve in condition or skill ; to cause something to grow or improve in capacity or quality
3. To become more complex or mature through natural progress ; to initiate or promote growth or advancement in something

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "develops" is that its modern sense comes from an old idea about eggs. The verb descends from Old French "desveloper," built from "des-" and a word meaning "to wrap up." To develop, then, was originally to unwrap, to unfold what was folded inside. The image was of something packed in layers that gradually opens out. The leap to growth came through 17th-century natural philosophy. People believed an egg contained a fully formed animal in miniature, and that it matured by growing larger and shedding the envelopes that had enclosed it. Development thus meant unfolding from a tiny, wrapped beginning into a fuller form, and that idea was extended to plants, minds, and eventually projects and skills. The word is a rare example of a verb whose meaning moved from unwrapping to growing, while its root remains in a family of English words for wrapping and folding, such as "lap" and "warp."

Synonyms: grows, matures, advances

Antonyms: stagnates, declines, deteriorates