adaptive
Americanadjective
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Etymology
Origin of adaptive
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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.
"It used to be somewhat hard to make these things. Now anyone can do it in seconds," said Brian Long, chief executive of Adaptive Security, a company offering trainings on AI fraud protection.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
And one aiming for the "three-peat" - that's three back-to-back gold medals - is the Team England Adaptive Abilities Advanced team.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026
Adaptive immunity trains the immune system to recognize a specific pathogen.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 6, 2025
Archery, judo, para equestrian, sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis The PlayLA Adaptive Youth Sports Program has a full calendar of camps and classes for ages 5 to 17.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2024
Adaptive Originality Only a little less important than resourcefulness in meeting objections, is adaptive originality in answering them.
From Certain Success by Hawkins, Norval A.
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.
