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adopt

verb

  1. bring into a family
  2. make use of somebody else's approach
  3. take on as one's own
L6508 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˈdɒpt/ / /əˈdɑpt/

noun

Etymology: From Middle French adopter, from Latin adoptō; ad + optō (“to choose, desire”), equivalent to ad- + opt.

  1. Clipping of adoptable.

verb

Etymology: From Middle French adopter, from Latin adoptō; ad + optō (“to choose, desire”), equivalent to ad- + opt.

  1. To take (a child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.) by choice into a relationship.

    A friend of mine recently adopted a Chinese baby girl found on the streets of Beijing.

  2. To take (a child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.) by choice into a relationship.

    We're going to adopt a Dalmatian.

  3. To take (a child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.) by choice into a relationship.

    We adopted an elephant at the local zoo.

  4. To take (a child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.) by choice into a relationship.

    This supermarket chain adopts several families every Yuletide, providing them with money and groceries for the holidays.

    Sixteen years ago, the station entered into a new chapter when it was adopted by the Friends of Chirk Station (FoCS) volunteer group, under the Arriva Trains Wales Station Adopters programme.

  5. To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally.

    He adopted a new look in order to fit in with his new workmates.

    [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

  6. To select and take or approve.

    to adopt the view or policy of another

    These are resolutions that were adopted.

  7. To beat an opponent ten times in a row.

    The match was not even close; the IM made amateurish blunders and ended up getting adopted.

    Nakamura 'Adopts' Komodo On Fathers Day: 20.5-2.5