adaptive

[uh-dap-tiv]

adjective

1. serving or able to adapt; showing or contributing to adaptation.

   the adaptive coloring of a chameleon.

Other Word Forms

• adaptively adverb
• adaptiveness noun
• adaptivity noun
• nonadaptive adjective
• readaptive adjective
• readaptively adverb
• readaptiveness noun
• unadaptive adjective
• unadaptively adverb
• unadaptiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of adaptive¹

First recorded in 1815–25; adapt + -ive

Example Sentences

"Using physics we learned something new and interesting about an adaptive strategy in an organism," says Ranjiangshang Ran, co-lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow in Burton's lab.

Read more on Science Daily

The ancient Greek mindset, curious and adaptive, owes much to living amid hundreds of neighboring city-states with distinct cultures.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Keep everything from the road-scanning camera on the front bumper—which allows the adaptive suspension dampers to respond to the road predictively—to the hidden hatch button in the rear wiper.

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The screeners are adaptive, and programmed to push on areas where a child may be struggling.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Categories include multifamily construction, affordable housing construction, affordable housing preservation and construction of adaptive reuse projects, such as turning empty commercial buildings into housing.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• flexible