Definition of "adoptive" []

• Of or having to do with adoption. (adjective)
• Characteristic of adoption. (adjective)
• Related by adoption: "increased honesty and sharing between birth families, adoptive families and adoptees” ( Robyn S. Quinter). See Usage Note at adopt. (adjective)

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.

• "As Philolaus gave them laws concerning many other things, so did he upon adoption, which they call adoptive laws; and this he in particular did to preserve the number of families."
• "But, as the mere fact of the unction does not effect a radical unification (for this schools rejects absorption), the unification is made perfect, according to them, by what they call the adoptive birth of Christ -- the ultimate result of the unction of the Father."
• "Second, if Diamond was correct then forager children raised in adoptive Western homes should become as smart as or, indeed, smarter than their white siblings."