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

Church bells pealed and cannons thundered when Americans learned that the Continental Congress had adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

This requires evidence that supports a strong inference of intentional discrimination, rather than the effects-based framework adopted by Congress in 1982.

From Slate • May 22, 2026

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in November 2025 endorsing the US-backed peace plan, which called for the full resumption of humanitarian aid.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

Landry has largely adopted a conciliatory tone during his visit, according to Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, a senior researcher in American foreign policy at the Danish Institute of International Studies.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

It had all begun when Clare was a very new Usher, so new, in fact, that he’d not yet adopted his beloved cloak-and-monocle disguise.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Related Words

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