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
Etymology
Origin of adapt
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin adaptāre “to fit, adjust,” perhaps via French adapter; see 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.
After they left the water in the distant past, osteoderms may have helped animals adapt to terrestrial life.
From Science Daily • May 21, 2026
At times, though - especially early on - he struggled to adapt.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
"The change requires a considerable amount of time to adapt due to infrastructure limitations," he said.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
So they flew to Italy to meet with people at Scuderia Ferrari, who helped them adapt the functions of a race team to an emergency room.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
But as the world grew wiser and science began to investigate, my younger sister and myself began to adapt our experiments to our audiences.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
