adopted
Britishadjective
Explanation
Something that's adopted has been deliberately chosen. Your adopted country is the place where you choose to live, not necessarily the one in which you're born. If you describe yourself as adopted, it means that you were taken in and raised by parents who didn't give birth to you. Just as your adoptive parents chose you to be their child, other adopted things are also chosen: an adopted language is one you learn and then choose to speak, and an adopted state is the place you freely decide to live in. The Latin root is adoptare, "choose for oneself."
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.
Latrail Gatlin and Alexander Wright adopted the twins at birth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026
However, he has subsequently adopted a more market-friendly stance, including enlisting a former Bank of England chief economist as an advisor.
From Barron's • Jun. 22, 2026
Before the practice was widely adopted a century ago, thousands of babies died each year from illnesses linked to contaminated dairy.
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2026
Specifically, they examined whether participants had adopted more positive or more negative views about aging.
From Science Daily • Jun. 21, 2026
He’d lived his whole life in the same house— well, his whole life since he’d been adopted.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
