developer
/dɪˈvɛləpɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.20 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products.
noun
A real estate developer; a person or company who prepares a parcel of land for sale, or creates structures on that land.
noun
A film developer; a person who uses chemicals to create photographs from photograph negatives.
noun
A liquid used in the chemical processing of traditional photos.
noun
A software developer; a person or company who creates or modifies computer software.
Example Sentences
- "Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion.""
- "[Donald Trump] would repeat this point three more times over the course of several hours, as if pleading with his counterparties to see fiscal reason. (Religious fanatics, alas, do not always respond to the same incentives as New York developers.)"
- "More important, when we looked at who worked in that industry, we noticed that programmers were in the minority. They’re dwarfed by, among other occupations, the software developers. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but the jobs follow very different trajectories. Nationwide, software developers haven’t struggled nearly as much as their programming brethren — few other computer-related occupations have. So what makes programmers different? To answer that, we need to dive forehead first into everybody’s favorite part of any analysis: arcane occupation definitions! Upon perusing the fine print, we saw that while programmers do in fact program, they “work from specifications drawn up by software and web developers or other individuals.” That seems like a clue. In the real world, “developer” and “programmer” can seem almost interchangeable. But in the world of government statistics, where we have legal permanent residency, there’s a clear distinction. In the [US] government’s schema, programmers do the grunt work while the much more numerous — and much faster-growing — software developers enjoy a broader remit. They figure out what clients need, design solutions and work with folks such as programmers and hardware engineers to implement them. Their pay reflects this gap in responsibilities. The median programmer earned $99,700 in 2023, compared with $132,270 for the median developer. And while 27.5 percent of programming jobs vanished, jobs for developers have only fallen 0.3 percent, similar to the broader industry."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des- Proto-Indo-European *werb-der. Proto-Germanic *wrappan-der. Vulgar Latin *vlopp-der. Old French veloper Middle French desveloper French développerbor. English develop Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English developer From develop + -er.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/
- British English: /dɪˈvɛləpə(ɹ)/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
develop
development
developmental
programmer[Appendix:Glossary
software engineer[Appendix:Glossary
designer
software architect