Definitions, Translations, and Word of the Day
Definition of "adopt" []
- To take into one's family through legal means and raise as one's own child. (verb-transitive)
- To take and follow (a course of action, for example) by choice or assent: adopt a new technique. (verb-transitive)
- To take up and make one's own: adopt a new idea. (verb-transitive)
- To take on or assume: adopted an air of importance. (verb-transitive)
- To vote to accept: adopt a resolution. (verb-transitive)
American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Use "adopt" in a sentence
- "So that it cannot be denied that we may treat the Rebel States as _enemies_, and adopt all measures against them _which any belligerents engaged in a just war may adopt_."
- "Are not the United States now _free_ to adopt such measures as an independent nation may _justly adopt_ in defense of its _rights and honor_?"
- "Before long, the two adopt a code word for "all things romantic": dowsing, borrowed from a barely coherent rant by Vanessa's alcoholic mother about her family's gift for finding water underground."