adapt
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
-
(often foll by to) to adjust (someone or something, esp oneself) to different conditions, a new environment, etc
-
(tr) to fit, change, or modify to suit a new or different purpose
to adapt a play for use in schools
Related Words
See adjust.
Other Word Forms
- adaptability noun
- adaptable adjective
- adaptedness noun
- adaptive adjective
- misadapt verb
- nonadapting adjective
- readapt verb (used with object)
- unadapted adjective
- well-adapted adjective
Etymology
Origin of adapt
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin adaptāre “to fit, adjust,” perhaps via French adapter; ad-, apt
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Establishing these long-term funding sources would empower high-quality providers to design programs that can adapt to fit the labor market.
From MarketWatch
The results suggest that early dogs were adapting quickly, long before the appearance of modern breeds, driven by their close and growing relationship with human communities.
From Science Daily
As the model continues to grow across the game globally, it remains to be seen just how consortiums will adapt to manage all of their assets, and whether fans will continue to accept it.
From Barron's
In the following decades, particularly after the turn of the century, studios became overreliant on adapting existing properties in an attempt to ensure their return on the massive investment that goes into making these films.
From Salon
Andrew Manches, professor of children and technology at the University of Edinburgh, agreed the beauty of Lego lay in "the freedom to create, re-create, and adapt simple blocks into endless stories powered by children's imagination".
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
