arrested development

English

Noun

arrested development (countable and uncountable, plural arrested developments)

1. A state where development has stopped prematurely.
   • 1835–1836, Benjamin Phillips, "Bladder, Abnormal Anatomy", in Robert Bentley Todd (ed.), The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, Volume I (A–DEA), Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, page 390,

     There are upon record a certain number of cases in which two or more urinary bladders are said to have existed. Of these some appear to me to have been cases in which the plurality was maintained merely because the organ was divided into compartments, either as a consequence of arrested development or of the formation of pouches, by the protrusion, or hernia of the mucous membrane of the organ.

   • 1885, Edmund Owen, The Surgical Diseases of Children, Lea Brothers & Co., page 269,

     Dr. Chamneys observes, that during fœtal life the mucous layer of the prepuce is always blended with the glans, and that with approaching birth the adhesion melts away. Adherence of the prepuce after birth is thus the result of arrested development. To draw back the foreskin is extremely advisable, lest the lingering adhesions undergo further thickening.

   • 1967, Samuel Angus, The religious quests of the Graeco-Roman world : a study in the historical background of early Christianity, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, →ISBN, page 17,

     Then, as ever, the Spirit as life manifested itself more surely and readily in change and motion than in stereotyped forms, prescriptive beliefs, and arrested developments.

   • 2007, John Creaser, "Enigmatic Ben Jonson", in Michael Cordner et al (eds.), Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 109,

     But even the more complex of Jonson’s figures tend to be definable, seen in a state of arrested development. Their speeches generate little sub-text, except as intrigue.