NOUN (1)

1. reproduction of some unicellular organisms (such as yeasts) by growth and specialization followed by the separation by constriction of a part of the parent;


ADJECTIVE (1)

1. beginning to develop;
- Example: "a budding genius"

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bud \Bud\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Budded; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Budding.]
   1. To put forth or produce buds, as a plant; to grow, as a
      bud does, into a flower or shoot.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To begin to grow, or to issue from a stock in the manner
      of a bud, as a horn.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To be like a bud in respect to youth and freshness, or
      growth and promise; as, a budding virgin. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To sprout; germinate; blossom.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Budding \Bud"ding\, n.
   1. The act or process of producing buds.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Biol.) A process of asexual reproduction, in which a new
      organism or cell is formed by a protrusion of a portion of
      the animal or vegetable organism, the bud thus formed
      sometimes remaining attached to the parent stalk or cell,
      at other times becoming free; gemmation. See Hydroidea.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The act or process of ingrafting one kind of plant upon
      another stock by inserting a bud under the bark.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

budding
    adj 1: beginning to develop; "a budding genius"
    n 1: reproduction of some unicellular organisms (such as yeasts)
         by growth and specialization followed by the separation by
         constriction of a part of the parent

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

95 Moby Thesaurus words for "budding":
   abecedarian, aboriginal, antenatal, autochthonous, beginning,
   blooming, blossoming, burgeoning, callow, creative, crescent,
   developed, dewy, elemental, elementary, embryonic, fetal,
   florescent, flourishing, flowering, formative, foundational,
   full-fledged, full-grown, fully developed, fundamental, gestatory,
   green, growing, grown, grown-up, hypertrophied, immature, impubic,
   in embryo, in its infancy, in the bud, inaugural, inceptive,
   inchoate, inchoative, incipient, incunabular, inexperienced,
   infant, infantile, ingenuous, initial, initiative, initiatory,
   innocent, intact, introductory, inventive, juicy, mature, minor,
   naive, nascent, natal, new-fledged, original, overdeveloped,
   overgrown, parturient, postnatal, pregnant, prenatal, primal,
   primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, procreative, raw,
   ripening, rudimental, rudimentary, sappy, sprouting, tender,
   thriving, unadult, underage, undeveloped, unfledged, unformed,
   unlicked, unmellowed, unripe, unseasoned, ur, vernal, virginal