adaptive
[ uh-dap-tiv ]
adjective
serving or able to adapt; showing or contributing to adaptation: the adaptive coloring of a chameleon.
Origin of adaptive
1Other words from adaptive
- a·dap·tive·ly, adverb
- a·dap·tive·ness, noun
- ad·ap·tiv·i·ty [ad-ap-tiv-i-tee], /ˌæd æpˈtɪv ɪ ti/, noun
- non·a·dap·tive, adjective
- re·a·dap·tive, adjective
- re·a·dap·tive·ly, adverb
- re·a·dap·tive·ness, noun
- un·a·dap·tive, adjective
- un·a·dap·tive·ly, adverb
- un·a·dap·tive·ness, noun
Words that may be confused with adaptive
- adaptive , adoptive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use adaptive in a sentence
Ability to respond adaptively to more elements in the environment gives a larger dominion, that is all.
Introduction to the Science of Sociology | Robert E. ParkSurely at least the unclear conception of an adaptively transformative influence of food must be discarded.
On Germinal Selection as a Source of Definite Variation | August WeismannIts body is less adaptively modified and shows the essentially fish-like character of the batrachian structure.
Elementary Zoology, Second Edition | Vernon L. Kellogg
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