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
Explanation
Say you move to a country where everyone cooks with lots of hot peppers. At first the food scalds your tongue, but over time you adapt — you change in a way that allows you to deal with the new circumstances. Adapt comes from the ancient word ap, which means "take" or "grasp." Ap is even older than Latin — it comes from a lost language that was spoken by the common ancestors of modern-day Indians and Europeans and has since been reconstructed by linguists, who named it the Proto-Indo-European language, or PIE. So what does adapt have to do with grasp? If you adapt to, say, a new country, it's as though you're grabbing hold of its strange, slippery customs.
Vocabulary lists containing adapt
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 2
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List 4
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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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.
The machine doesn’t adapt to its new circumstances.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026
It is whether those who relied on the old one can adapt before the new one hardens around them.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
In simpler terms, shutting down this protein pushes immune cells to adapt their metabolism, transforming them into stronger, faster, and more aggressive cancer fighters.
From Science Daily • Apr. 14, 2026
A strong rebounder who can move the ball upcourt, Littlepage-Buggs is worth a pick to see how she might adapt to the WNBA.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
It is all very well, in these changing times, to adapt one's work to take in duties not traditionally within one's realm; but bantering is of another dimension altogether.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
