adjustment

American  

[uh-juhst-muhnt] / əˈdʒʌst mənt /

noun

• adjustments
  plural

1. the act of adjusting; adaptation to a particular condition, position, or purpose.

2. the state of being adjusted; orderly relation of parts or elements.

3. a device, as a knob or lever, for adjusting.

   the adjustments on a television set.

4. the act of bringing something into conformity with external requirements.

   the adjustment of one's view of reality.

5. harmony achieved by modification or change of a position.

   They worked out an adjustment of their conflicting ideas.

6. Sociology. a process of modifying, adapting, or altering individual or collective patterns of behavior so as to bring them into conformity with other such patterns, as with those provided by a cultural environment.

7. Insurance. the act of ascertaining the amount of indemnity that the party insured is entitled to receive under the policy, and of settling the claim.

8. a settlement of a disputed account or claim.

9. a change or concession, as in price or other terms, in view of minor defect or the like.

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adjustment British  

/ əˈdʒʌstmənt /

noun

1. the act of adjusting or state of being adjusted

2. a control for regulating

   the adjustment for volume is beside the speaker

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misadjustment
  noun
• nonadjustment
  noun
• overadjustment
  noun
• preadjustment
  noun
• underadjustment
  noun
• adjustmental
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• adjustments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of adjustment

First recorded in 1635–45; adjust + -ment

Explanation

The act of making an alteration or modification is an adjustment. If you buy a new pair of jeans, but they are too long, you can make a quick adjustment and hem them, have someone else hem them, or use safety pins. The process of adapting to your environmental conditions is also called an adjustment. After you leave home for college, both you and your parents will have a period of adjustment. Some people adjust easier to change than others — you may be having a ball going to class, eating cereal for dinner, and making new friends but an adjustment your parents will have to make is that they will need to stop worrying about you.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adjustment adjustments

A clinical trial published in The Lancet Rheumatology suggests that a small, carefully chosen adjustment to the angle of your feet could make a meaningful difference.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

Asia is bearing most of the demand adjustment, with higher LNG prices encouraging switching to coal in power generation and fuel substitution in industry, particularly in India and China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

"It's not a massive adjustment that the majority of people are asking for."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

This slight adjustment, suggested by Ken Tropin, chairman of the firm which he founded in 1994, had a positive contribution in a few asset classes.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

Lee writes another letter to Grant, asking for “a suspension of the hostilities pending the adjustment of the terms of the surrender of this army.”

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

Although those losses increase the difficulty of reaching ignition, they also provide a balancing influence that could allow a burning plasma to maintain a stable operating state without constant adjustments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

That makes it difficult, if not impossible, for investors to make the kind of adjustments Nvidia is enabling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

But instead of concerning ourselves with measuring our cortisol, she advised thinking instead of what might affect it, and making adjustments there.

From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026

Precision driving skills are crucial as constant tiny adjustments are needed to keep the car on track.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

"You need supercomputer time to calculate routine satellite adjustments?"

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Related Words

• alteration
• arrangement
• improvement
• modification
• readjustment
• regulation