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underdeveloped

verb

Form of underdevelop , past tense of underdevelop.

Simple meaning

Process less than the required time or in an ineffective solution or at an insufficiently high temperature.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhnderdihvehluhpt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əndɚdɪˈvɛləpt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. past tense of underdevelop

    Process (a film or photographic plate) less than the required time or in an ineffective solution or at an insufficiently high temperature

  2. past tense of underdevelop

    To develop insufficiently.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Process (a film or photographic plate) less than the required time or in an ineffective solution or at an insufficiently high temperature

Used this way, underdeveloped is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

underdeveloped countryunderdeveloped worldunderdeveloped economyeconomically underdevelopedrelatively underdevelopedunderdeveloped areaeurope underdevelopedunderdeveloped africa

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.