Synonyms

adopt

American

[uh-dopt] / əˈdɒpt /

verb (used with object)

to choose or take as one's own; make one's own by selection or assent.

to adopt a nickname.
to take responsibility for raising (someone else’s biological child) as one's own, specifically by a formal legal act.

After more than 300 days in foster care, the twins were adopted by a family that was able to keep the siblings together.
to acquire (a pet, especially one from an animal rescue organization).

Local animal rescue groups use social media to persuade people to adopt dogs and cats from them instead of purchasing puppies and kittens from pet shops or breeders.
to take or receive into any kind of new relationship.

to adopt a person as a protégé.
to select as a basic or required textbook or series of textbooks in a course.
to vote to accept.

The House adopted the report.
to accept or act in accordance with (a plan, principle, etc.).

verb (used without object)

to take a nonbiological child into one’s home and raise as one’s own.
to acquire a pet, especially one from an animal rescue organization.

“Adopt! Don’t shop!” is the popular slogan promoted by one nonprofit animal advocacy group.

verb phrase

adopt out to place in a home by means of adoption.

The shelter provides basic medical care and vaccinations to the animals they will be adopting out.

adopt British

/ əˈdɒpt /

verb

law to bring (a person) into a specific relationship, esp to take (another's child) as one's own child
to choose and follow (a plan, technique, etc)
to take over (an idea, etc) as if it were one's own
to take on; assume

to adopt a title
to accept (a report, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What does adopt mean? To adopt is to take another parent’s child into one’s custody, typically in a formal legal way, in order to permanently act as their parent or guardian. This most commonly involves an adult couple or a single adult adopting and raising a child who is no longer in the custody of either of their birth parents (biological parents), such as in cases where they have died or are otherwise unable to care for the child. This sense of adopt can also be used in reference to adopting an animal as a pet, such as from an animal shelter. The word is especially used this way when the animal had a previous caretaker. Adopt and the noun form adoption have many other more general meanings. Most generally, adopt means to choose or take as one's own. It can also mean to accept something or vote to approve it. In all cases, adoption is the act or process of adopting, or the state of having adopted. To adopt a tradition or religion is to make it one’s own. To adopt a plan is to approve it and act according to its steps. Similarly, to adopt a law is to formally vote to approve it and take steps to follow and enforce it. Example: We’ve found an agency that will help us to adopt.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of adopt

First recorded 1490–1500; late Middle English adopten, partly from Middle French adopter, partly from Latin adoptāre, equivalent to ad- verb prefix + optāre “to desire, pray for”; see ad-, opt

Explanation

You can adopt an air of nonchalance, a fake British accent, or even a stray dog. When you adopt something, you consciously select it and accept it as your own. The word adopt has many different shades of meaning, but most relate to the notion of taking something on and treating it as if it’s your own. You’re probably familiar with what happens if you adopt a child: you take on parental responsibilities and accept the child as if it’s your own. You can adopt other things — such as a plan, a method, or a point of view — in a similar way. For example, when you adopt a particular attitude — such as a respectful attitude — you select that as a way to present yourself and behave as if it is natural.

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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.

See Examples For:

adopt adopts adopted adopting

Prolonged confinement can lead animals to pacing, destructive behavior, anxiety, and make it harder to adopt them out, which ultimately could lead to them being euthanized by shelters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

While RAF policy requires all personnel to hold Module 1 training as a minimum, Coningsby is the first RAF station in the UK to adopt Module 2 as standard.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Truist analyst Youssef Squali said in a note that Muse could generate an additional $28.5 billion for the company by 2030 as heavy users adopt its paid tiers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

But “once users adopt a capable personal agent across email, calendar, research and shopping, switching costs rise and we believe the personal agent will become the default interface,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

“And she’s Chinese. My aunt and uncle had to go to Beijing to adopt her.”

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

It adopts a helpful no-punishment philosophy: If you don’t meet your goals or you step away from the app for an extended amount of time, it only sends encouragement.

From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026

She adopts a robotic monotone as she delivers a critique: “Hi-hat at 3:14 down two decibels.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Pressure and temperature alone may not determine which structure the material adopts.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Cardiff University said it was sorry that "any student felt unsafe" on campus and that it adopts a "zero-tolerance approach to harassment and discrimination of all kinds".

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

What a berdache is, basically, is someone who adopts a gender other than their biological one.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

They have now adopted an aggressive defense of the industrial buildout behind the technology.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026

"Vulvalippen" has not yet been adopted by a German dictionary, but Windmüller has spotted it in conversations, school textbooks and women's magazines.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Global equity positioning continued to weaken as investors adopted a more defensive stance, the U.S. bank says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

The adopted plan also spares, at least for now, changes to the Mesa Linda golf course at the city-owned Costa Mesa Country Club.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Ishtar had gone to great lengths to protect her adopted daughter.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Researchers may have been trying to convert one type of progenitor cell into another fate that it was never capable of adopting.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

Schools like Meadow Park, in Coventry, are adopting a range of approaches to improve pupils' reading skills, including weekly book club discussions led by tutors.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

She reached out to her friend Lori Fusaro, a staff photographer for Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles, about adopting two cats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

By adopting Nvidia’s platform to assist customers in developing custom AI processors, clients can quickly scale from silicon to rack with the custom chips guaranteed to work seamlessly together with Nvidia’s GPUs, they note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

We’ve already discussed many examples of local peoples’ adopting more-productive crops domesticated elsewhere.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023