adaptive
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adaptive
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How does adaptive compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Use adaptive to describe people who are flexible — they don't lose their cool when plans change quickly and they are always willing to learn new ways to do things. Being adaptive helps you sail along in today's ever-changing world. What do chameleons and your grandparents who only started using computers a few years ago have in common? They are adaptive. Just as chameleons change color to match their surroundings — green when sitting on leaves, brown when climbing the tree's trunk — your grandparents learned the skills to keep up with the world around them. The opposite of adaptive is stubborn. People, lizards, or anything that refuses to change are stubborn. To welcome change is to be adaptive.
Vocabulary lists containing adaptive
30 GRE Words Beginning with "A"
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Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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Cosmos
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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.
"Surfing has been a huge part of my recovery and the adaptive surfing community has helped me so much," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Now he’s on top of the adaptive surfing world, the challenge is to stay there.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Brainwashing isn’t enough: “To turn you into a willful collaborator, I need to also attack your emotional system. Empathy is an adaptive virtue. Suicidal empathy is the misfiring of this adaptive process.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
While a small decline can be adaptive, dads face mental health risks when their testosterone drops too low.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
“Although it may be challenging for teachers to find adaptive instruments to suit the individual needs of their students,” Sobol says, “the music market catalog offerings are expanding.”
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
