Meaning & use
arrested development
Last updated
Meanings
phraseuncountablemedicaltechnical
A halt in growth or maturing at an early stage.
Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun phrase: suffer from arrested development.
Patterns
- suffer arrested development
The disease caused arrested development in the child.
The study examined arrested development in the embryo.
phraseuncountableinformaldisapproving
Emotional immaturity in an adult.
Grammar: Used informally and critically.
Patterns
- show arrested development
His sulking is arrested development at its worst.
They joked that the party showed arrested development.
Common combinations
- emotional arrested development
- He showed emotional arrested development.
- suffer arrested development
- The region suffered arrested development.
- case of arrested development
- It's a case of arrested development.
Synonyms and how they differ
- immaturity
- A plain word without the idea of halting.
- stunted growth
- Physical, not emotional.
Opposites
Word family
- arrest verb
- to stop
Commonly confused: arrested development or arrest?
arrested development vs arrest
Arrest here means stop, not seize by police.
Practice
Calling an adult's tantrums arrested development suggests that he is ___.
Choose one answer.
Arrested development means not maturing emotionally. Under arrest uses the police sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “arrested development”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.