1. The act or process of natural progression in physical and psychological maturation from a previous, lower, or embryonic stage to a later, more complex, or adult stage. 2. The process of chromatography.
- cognitive d. the evolving d. of the infant's and child's intellectual functions.
- life-span d. d. and mastery (or loss) of differing biologic, intellectual, behavioral, and social skills in different epochs of the life-span from the prenatal through the gerontological periods of growth.
- psychosexual d. maturation and d. of the psychic and behavioral phases of sexuality from birth to adult life through the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital phases.
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de·vel·op·ment di-'vel-əp-mənt n
1) the action or process of developing: as
a) the process of growth and differentiation by which the potentialities of a zygote, spore, or embryo are realized
b) the gradual advance through evolutionary stages: EVOLUTION
2) the state of being developed <the great muscular \development of weight lifters>
de·vel·op·men·tal -.vel-əp-'ment-əl adj
de·vel·op·men·tal·ly -ē adv
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de·vel·op·ment (de-velґəp-mənt) the process of growth and differentiation. developmental adjMedical dictionary. 2011.