How to Use underdeveloped in a Sentence

underdeveloped

adjective
  • The baby was born with underdeveloped lungs.
  • Since my references at the time were underdeveloped, his work stayed with me for a long time.
    — Emiliano Granada, Variety, 16 June 2023
  • If the eyes are deep and sharp, the fruit is probably underdeveloped and will be dry and crunchy.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 15 July 2025
  • A couple of states in the underdeveloped north account for much of it.
    — Sameer Yasir, New York Times, 29 May 2023
  • If the eyes are deep and sharp, the fruit is probably underdeveloped and will be dry and crunchy.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 25 Aug. 2025
  • The on-board display and system seem a bit underdeveloped for the bike's cost, too.
    — Kevin Purdy, ArsTechnica, 20 Sep. 2025
  • Jenik good size at six-foot-one but is underdeveloped at just 165 pounds.
    — azcentral, 25 June 2018
  • His lungs were underdeveloped, and his fingers were as thin as strands of spaghetti.
    — Yoko Ogawa, The New Yorker, 20 July 2023
  • Her lungs were underdeveloped, resulting in more stress on her lungs and heart.
    — Dallas News, 4 Jan. 2020
  • My profile revealed an underdeveloped upper jaw and a flat face to match my long, flat head.
    — Ariel Henley, Wired, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Thus, the film plays out like a mashup of a couple underdeveloped ideas that never fully gel.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 9 Nov. 2020
  • This makes the vaccine easier to be shipped to underdeveloped parts of the world.
    — Washington Post, 12 Jan. 2022
  • Landon's condition means the left side of his heart was underdeveloped at birth.
    — Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 17 Nov. 2022
  • If your core is underdeveloped, your body will compensate and have the lower back take on the extra work.
    — Women's Health, 11 Feb. 2023
  • His body was still underdeveloped, though, and the Colts took him in the sixth round last year to start as a kick returner.
    — Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 5 Jan. 2022
  • If picked too early, before the skin has fully hardened, the squash may not be sweet and could be underdeveloped.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Much to her credit, Conis does not end her book with some pat lesson or underdeveloped call to arms.
    — Scott W. Stern, The New Republic, 31 May 2022
  • The characters work well enough, though the plot is a little underdeveloped.
    — Elizabeth Loga, Glamour, 27 Aug. 2021
  • Due to malnourishment, the girl’s teeth were underdeveloped and may have appeared small and out of place for her face.
    — orlandosentinel.com, 12 Nov. 2021
  • Sweetie is a 6-year-old Siamese, born with underdeveloped eyes.
    — cleveland, 22 Oct. 2021
  • Almost all of us are severely underdeveloped in at least one.
    — Big Think, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Prey doesn’t reinvent the franchise as much as show how underdeveloped and under-utilized it’s been all these years.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Dec. 2022
  • At least two pumpkin-toadlet species have inner-ear structures so underdeveloped that the frogs are deaf to their own mating calls.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 15 June 2022
  • The street was an underdeveloped photograph, the colours leached.
    — Hazlitt, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Kissing bugs can be found in underdeveloped areas such as foothills and mountain regions.
    — Alexiah Syrai Olsen, Sacbee.com, 27 May 2026
  • The issue has been finding companies to take a chance at an underdeveloped part of the city that hasn’t had much success.
    — Wells Dusenbury, sun-sentinel.com, 2 Oct. 2021
  • Briscoe often played off the ball; because of that, his point guard abilities were underdeveloped.
    — Josh Robbins, OrlandoSentinel.com, 5 July 2018
  • That death toll may rise as rescuers work to reach remote villages in one of the country's most underdeveloped regions.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2022
  • The effort is there as a blocker, but the functional strength is underdeveloped.
    — Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Why does almost every punch line feel overworked and underdeveloped?
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 23 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'underdeveloped.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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