adjustment

American  

[uh-juhst-muhnt] / əˈdʒʌst mənt /

noun

• adjustments
  plural

1. the act of adjusting; adaptation to a particular condition, position, or purpose.

2. the state of being adjusted; orderly relation of parts or elements.

3. a device, as a knob or lever, for adjusting.

   the adjustments on a television set.

4. the act of bringing something into conformity with external requirements.

   the adjustment of one's view of reality.

5. harmony achieved by modification or change of a position.

   They worked out an adjustment of their conflicting ideas.

6. Sociology. a process of modifying, adapting, or altering individual or collective patterns of behavior so as to bring them into conformity with other such patterns, as with those provided by a cultural environment.

7. Insurance. the act of ascertaining the amount of indemnity that the party insured is entitled to receive under the policy, and of settling the claim.

8. a settlement of a disputed account or claim.

9. a change or concession, as in price or other terms, in view of minor defect or the like.

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adjustment British  

/ əˈdʒʌstmənt /

noun

1. the act of adjusting or state of being adjusted

2. a control for regulating

   the adjustment for volume is beside the speaker

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misadjustment
  noun
• nonadjustment
  noun
• overadjustment
  noun
• preadjustment
  noun
• underadjustment
  noun
• adjustmental
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• adjustments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of adjustment

First recorded in 1635–45; adjust + -ment

Explanation

The act of making an alteration or modification is an adjustment. If you buy a new pair of jeans, but they are too long, you can make a quick adjustment and hem them, have someone else hem them, or use safety pins. The process of adapting to your environmental conditions is also called an adjustment. After you leave home for college, both you and your parents will have a period of adjustment. Some people adjust easier to change than others — you may be having a ball going to class, eating cereal for dinner, and making new friends but an adjustment your parents will have to make is that they will need to stop worrying about you.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adjustment adjustments

The Fed rarely makes just one adjustment after it concludes a turn toward raising or lowering rates is warranted, because a quarter-point higher or lower doesn’t do much on its own to change borrowing conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

But the better question is: If it hikes, is this one adjustment or the beginning of another tightening cycle?

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

Chargers defensive end Akheem Mesidor isn’t surprised by Slaughter’s seamless adjustment to center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

Persistent inflation has pushed the projected Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 to 3.5%, according to analyst Mary Johnson.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

The balance of nature is not a status quo; it is fluid, ever shifting, in a constant state of adjustment.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

A lawsuit settlement in 2025 let schools share some of their sports revenue with athletes, roughly $20 million for every campus, plus annual adjustments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Pricing adjustments, Chief Financial Officer Todd Cunfer said, were “kind of the last resort.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

One catch: These funds distribute all of each year’s inflation adjustments as income.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

That requires frequent adjustments to systems such as the tokamak's heating equipment, magnets and gas injectors.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

She spent whole days blending oils, making adjustments to achieve specific fragrances and attributes.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Related Words

• alteration
• arrangement
• improvement
• modification
• readjustment
• regulation