Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To develop to excess.
  • transitive verb To process (a photographic plate or film) too long or in too concentrated a solution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To develop to excess; in photography, to develop too long or with too strong developer. See overdevelopment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Photog.) To develop excessively

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To develop to an excessive degree
  • verb photography To develop a photographic film for too long

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ develop

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Examples

  • They contend that they have studied the transport systems in America and particularly in Canada and they say that they don't want to overdevelop their railway system.

    Present Position of the U.S.S.R. 1934

  • According to Byram, there's a tendency for pitchers to overdevelop the internal rotators of their shoulders because those are the muscles that speed the arm forward.

    Medlogs - Recent stories 2010

  • "We can't overdevelop our resources - that's what's happening here."

    billingsgazette.com 2010

  • The Department of Community Affairs is Florida's last line of defense against incessant, unrelenting efforts to overbuild and overdevelop our communities.

    tcpalm.com Stories 2010

  • If you mix too vigorously, you might overdevelop the gluten in the flour and end up with tough muffins, regardless of the flour type.

    NYT > Home Page 2010

  • The Department of Community Affairs is Florida's last line of defense against incessant, unrelenting efforts to overbuild and overdevelop our communities.

    tcpalm.com Stories 2010

  • The Department of Community Affairs is Florida's last line of defense against incessant, unrelenting efforts to overbuild and overdevelop our communities.

    tcpalm.com Stories 2010

  • "They have failed plan for the sizeable increase in Victoria's population which has added to pressure to overdevelop areas," he said.

    Star News Group 2010

  • According to Byram, there's a tendency for pitchers to overdevelop the internal rotators of their shoulders because those are the muscles that speed the arm forward.

    Medlogs - Recent stories 2010

  • Now there is no real need for a passenger / commuter rail line unless the goal is to overdevelop the north shore with more townhouses, apartment buildings, and housing projects.

    unknown title 2009

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