adopted

British  

/ əˈdɒptɪd /

adjective

1. having been adopted Compare adoptive

   an adopted child

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Explanation

Something that's adopted has been deliberately chosen. Your adopted country is the place where you choose to live, not necessarily the one in which you're born. If you describe yourself as adopted, it means that you were taken in and raised by parents who didn't give birth to you. Just as your adoptive parents chose you to be their child, other adopted things are also chosen: an adopted language is one you learn and then choose to speak, and an adopted state is the place you freely decide to live in. The Latin root is adoptare, "choose for oneself."

Example Sentences

After undergoing an assessment and familiarisation process in early 2023 he was adopted and began living with the defendants on 1 April at their home.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

After the merger, Spirit probably would’ve adopted the business model of JetBlue, or the part of Spirit that was merged into JetBlue would’ve adopted that business model.

From Slate • May 5, 2026

Despite this progress, several obstacles must be addressed before the technology can be widely adopted.

From Science Daily • May 4, 2026

Like Musk, Altman, who is expected to testify later in May, has adopted a similar habit of talking about a bright future made possible by technology.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

When the Arabs adopted Hindu-Arabic numerals, they also adopted zero.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Related Words

• accessible
• familiar
• prevalent
• public
• rampant
• ubiquitous
• universal