Another Word for Develop: Build, Grow, Create, Acquire and More

On this page14 sections

1. Quick picker
2. When develop means create
3. When develop means grow or change
4. When develop means gain a skill, habit or quality
5. When develop means start to have an illness or problem
6. When develop means start to happen
7. When develop means expand an idea
8. Two narrower senses
9. Other words for development
10. Develop on a resume
11. Mistakes to avoid
12. Before and after
13. Practice
14. Quick answers

The best other word for develop depends on what is developing. If you are making something new, such as a product or a plan, use create, design, build or devise. If something is changing and growing over time, use grow, evolve, mature or progress. If a person is gaining a skill or habit, use acquire, build, cultivate or pick up. And if someone develops an illness, the plain word is get, with contract or come down with as alternatives.

Develop is one of the busiest verbs in business, science and school writing, which is why it ends up three times in one paragraph. The replacements are not interchangeable, though. You can devise a plan but not a rash, and a child can mature but a software feature cannot. The sections below take each meaning in turn, with an example sentence for every word, then cover the noun development, resume wording, common mistakes and a short practice set.

Quick picker

When develop means create

This is the sense in product, software and research writing: “We developed a new vaccine”, “She developed the training course”. The best replacement depends on how much invention is involved and who did the work.

• create: the general word. The charity created a free reading programme for adults.
• design: when the planning and shape are the point. She designed the new onboarding process.
• build: for software, products and systems; it sounds hands-on. We built the first version in a weekend.
• devise: for a plan, method or scheme that took thought. The teacher devised a game to practise irregular verbs.
• formulate: for a policy, theory or strategy, in formal writing. The board formulated a new pricing strategy.
• engineer: for technical work, or for arranging an outcome cleverly. The team engineered a lighter battery case.
• produce: when the output matters more than the invention. The studio produced three short films this year.
• pioneer: only when it really was the first of its kind. The lab pioneered a cheaper way to test water quality.

Watch the difference between invent and develop. To invent is to come up with something that did not exist; to develop is often to take an existing idea and make it work. “Edison developed the light bulb” is the more careful phrasing, because others had made electric lamps before him.

When develop means grow or change

Here develop is intransitive: the thing develops by itself. Children develop, stories develop, cities develop.

• grow: the plainest word. The town grew quickly once the railway arrived.
• evolve: gradual change, often into something more complex. The company’s role has evolved from retailer to platform.
• mature: for people, wine, ideas and markets that reach a fuller stage. He has matured a lot since his first season.
• progress: steady forward movement. Talks progressed slowly through the winter.
• advance: movement to a higher level, often of knowledge or technology. Battery technology has advanced quickly.
• flourish or thrive: grow well, with a positive judgement. The garden flourished after the rain.
• expand: grow in size or range. The bakery expanded into catering.
• unfold: for events and stories that reveal themselves step by step. We watched the crisis unfold on the news.

In fiction reviews, “the characters develop” is common. More specific alternatives are change, grow, deepen and come into focus: Over the novel, the narrator’s anger deepens into grief.

When develop means gain a skill, habit or quality

This sense is everywhere in school reports, job ads and self-help writing: “develop confidence”, “develop good habits”, “develop leadership skills”.

• build: steady effort. Short daily sessions build fluency faster than one long weekend.
• acquire: formal; the result of learning. Students acquire research skills through the project.
• cultivate: deliberate, patient work on a quality or relationship. She cultivated a calm manner on the phone.
• gain: neutral; works with experience, confidence and knowledge. He gained confidence by presenting every week.
• pick up: informal; learning almost by accident. I picked up a few phrases from my neighbours.
• form: for habits and opinions. It takes time to form a new habit.
• hone or sharpen: improving a skill you already have. She honed her interview technique with practice calls.
• nurture or foster: helping a quality grow in someone else. Good coaches foster independence.

Note who does the developing. You acquire or build your own skills; a teacher or manager nurtures, fosters or trains someone else’s. “The course fostered my skills” is fine; “I fostered my skills” sounds odd.

When develop means start to have an illness or problem

“He developed pneumonia”, “The car developed a fault”. In ordinary speech, get is the most natural replacement.

• get: everyday. I got a headache after the long drive.
• come down with: informal, for an infection that arrives suddenly. Half the class came down with flu.
• catch: only for infectious illnesses. She caught a cold on the flight. (You cannot catch diabetes.)
• contract: formal or medical, for infections. He contracted malaria while travelling.
• show signs of: when the illness is beginning. The patient began to show signs of infection.
• start having or run into: for problems and faults. The project ran into delays in March.

Doctors keep develop for conditions that appear over time (develop diabetes, develop an allergy), because catch and contract imply an infection from outside.

When develop means start to happen

• arise or emerge: formal. A new problem arose during testing. / A clearer picture emerged after the interviews.
• occur or come about: neutral. How did the misunderstanding come about?
• break out: sudden and usually bad (fire, war, a fight, disease). A fire broke out in the kitchen.
• form: for storms, ice, clouds and crowds. A storm formed off the coast overnight.

News writing uses “a developing story” for events still unfolding. Alternatives are an ongoing story and an unfolding situation.

When develop means expand an idea

Teachers write “develop this point” in margins. They mean: add reasons, evidence and examples.

• expand on or elaborate on: say more about it. Could you expand on the second reason?
• flesh out: informal; add detail to a bare outline. We need to flesh out the budget section.
• work out: think something through until it is clear. They are still working out the details.
• refine: improve something already mostly there. She refined the argument after feedback.
• build on: use an earlier idea as a base. This paper builds on the 2019 survey.

Two narrower senses

Land. “Developers plan to develop the site” means building houses, offices or roads on it. Alternatives are build on, redevelop (for land already used), convert and, for whole areas, urbanize. Note that “undeveloped land” is neutral, while “unspoiled land” takes the side of leaving it alone.

Photographs. To develop film is to treat it with chemicals so the image appears. The only real synonym is process: The lab processes film within two days.

Other words for development

The noun follows the verb’s senses:

“Professional development” is a fixed phrase in schools and HR. If you need variety, use training, career growth or continuing education.

Develop on a resume

Recruiters see “developed” constantly. A more exact verb, followed by a result, tells them more:

• Instead of Developed a new filing system: Designed a filing system that cut search time from minutes to seconds.
• Instead of Developed training materials: Wrote and tested a five-module training course for new staff.
• Instead of Developed client relationships: Built relationships with 30 regional clients and kept all of them through a price rise.
• Instead of Developed my leadership skills: Led a team of four through two product launches.

Strong verbs to rotate: built, designed, launched, created, wrote, set up, introduced, expanded, grew. Use only numbers that are true.

Mistakes to avoid

• “Develope” is a misspelling. The verb is develop; the noun is development; the past form is developed (one p).
• Catch with a non-infectious illness. “She caught arthritis” is wrong; she developed it.
• Evolve for quick change. Evolve suggests gradual change. A plan that changed overnight was revised or overhauled.
• Invent for improve. If the thing already existed, you improved, adapted or refined it.
• Grow as a transitive verb in formal writing. “Grow the business” is common in business English, but some editors dislike it. Expand the business is the safe choice in formal reports.

Before and after

Before: Over the year, the team developed a new app, developed stronger communication skills and developed a plan for next year. Some problems developed in the summer, but the project continued to develop.

After: Over the year, the team built a new app, learned to communicate more clearly and drew up a plan for next year. Some problems arose in the summer, but the project kept moving forward.

Each develop was doing a different job, so each replacement is a different word.

Practice

Replace develop with a more exact word or phrase.

1. Three of the players developed food poisoning after the dinner.
2. The museum developed a new audio guide for children.
3. Over the summer she developed a love of cooking.
4. A disagreement developed over the budget.
5. In your next draft, develop the paragraph about costs.
6. The puppy has developed into a calm adult dog.

Possible answers: 1 came down with (or got); 2 created (or designed); 3 discovered (or acquired); 4 arose (or broke out, if it was sudden and angry); 5 expand on (or flesh out); 6 grown.

Quick answers

What is a formal word for develop?

It depends on the sense: formulate or devise for plans, acquire for skills, contract for infections, arise or emerge for problems, and elaborate on for ideas.

What is the opposite of develop?

For growth, decline, shrink or stagnate. For a skill, lose or let slip. For land, preserve or leave undeveloped. Regress is used when something goes back to an earlier stage.

Is develop the same as improve?

Not quite. To improve is to make something better; to develop is to make it grow, change or come into being. A developing problem is not improving. For that sense, see another word for improve.

Can I say “develop on” an idea?

No. Use develop an idea (no preposition), expand on or build on.

For other words in this series, see another word for improve, another word for show, another word for effective and another word for significant. For growth as an image rather than a word choice, see metaphors for growth.