adoption

[uh-dop-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or process of establishing a legal relationship between a child and a parent other than the child’s biological parent, thereby entrusting the designated adult with responsibility for raising the child.

   Have you considered growing your family through adoption?

2. the act or process of acquiring a pet, especially a stray or abandoned animal from an animal rescue organization.

   The shelter sees a rush of dog adoptions every June, when school lets out for summer.

3. the act of accepting, embracing, or starting to use something, as an idea, behavior, characteristic, or principle: Her friends and family were surprised by her adoption of European mannerisms and expressions after only one year abroad.

   The adoption of a new amendment was delayed by partisan bickering.

   Her friends and family were surprised by her adoption of European mannerisms and expressions after only one year abroad.

4. the state of being adopted.

Other Word Forms

• adoptional adjective
• nonadoption noun
• preadoption noun
• proadoption adjective
• readoption noun
• unadoptional adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of adoption¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English adopcioun, from Latin adoptiōn-, stem of adoptiō; ad-, option

Example Sentences

After giving up a baby for adoption at age 20, she moved to New York in 1967 and hung out with avant-garde artists and musicians.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“We’re going to continue to roll out things that we feel are high-value, high-return to our customers, get high levels of adoption, and really solve some of the productivity capacity problems we have,” Anagnost said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

AI shopping agents, which can act autonomously on behalf of users, are in the early stages of adoption and development.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

An adoption drama, inspired by the writer's own experience and filmed in Wales, has won an International Emmy award.

Read more on BBC

The momentum developed by its cloud intelligence group was chiefly driven by public cloud revenue growth and the increasing adoption of AI-related products.

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• acceptance 
• approval 
• enactment 
• endorsement 
• maintenance 
• ratification 

When To Use

What does adoption mean?

Adoption is the process of adopting another parent’s child—taking them 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 adoption 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 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.The adoption of a tradition or religion involves making it one’s own. The adoption of a plan involves approving it and acting according to its steps. Similarly, the adoption of a law involves the formal vote to approve it and the steps taken to follow and enforce it.Example: We’ve found an agency that will help us through the process of adoption.