adapt
Americanverb (used with object)
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adapts,
present (3rd person singular)
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adapted,
past participle, past
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adapting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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adapts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
adapted,
past participle, past
-
adapting
present participle
verb
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(often foll by to) to adjust (someone or something, esp oneself) to different conditions, a new environment, etc
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(tr) to fit, change, or modify to suit a new or different purpose
to adapt a play for use in schools
Synonym Usage
See adjust.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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adaptabilitynoun
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adaptednessnoun
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misadaptverb
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readaptverb (used with object)
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adaptableadjective
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adaptiveadjective
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nonadaptingadjective
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unadaptedadjective
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well-adaptedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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adaptsimple
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adaptssimple
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have adaptedperfect
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has adaptedperfect
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am adaptingprogressive
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are adaptingprogressive
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is adaptingprogressive
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have been adaptingperfect progressive
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has been adaptingperfect progressive
Past
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adaptedsimple
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had adaptedperfect
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was adaptingprogressive
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were adaptingprogressive
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had been adaptingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of adapt
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin adaptāre “to fit, adjust,” perhaps via French adapter; see ad-, apt
Explanation
Say you move to a country where everyone cooks with lots of hot peppers. At first the food scalds your tongue, but over time you adapt — you change in a way that allows you to deal with the new circumstances. Adapt comes from the ancient word ap, which means "take" or "grasp." Ap is even older than Latin — it comes from a lost language that was spoken by the common ancestors of modern-day Indians and Europeans and has since been reconstructed by linguists, who named it the Proto-Indo-European language, or PIE. So what does adapt have to do with grasp? If you adapt to, say, a new country, it's as though you're grabbing hold of its strange, slippery customs.
Vocabulary lists containing adapt
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 2
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List 4
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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:
Services traditionally designed for older adults are having to adapt to support much younger people, it said, with very different needs, with habits often formed while they were in school.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Faced with a lack of dedicated facilities, Cascione applied the same philosophy he used when his baseball team had to rent a field: adapt and overcome the obstacle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
Yet somehow the region has managed to adapt and grow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The researchers believe this reflects the brain's ability to adapt to stressful situations by prioritizing information that may be important.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
It operated at warp speed and had massive storage capacity so that he could mine the scientific world on every front, synthesize the data, and adapt it to his needs.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
She runs away to a place where she adapts quickly to the creatures around her, and learns how to feel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Haydn Parry: It will be interesting to see how wide receiver Carnell Tate, fourth overall pick by Tennessee, adapts among the big boys.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
By studying how the brain responds and adapts during treatment, they hoped to uncover biological targets that could eventually lead to more effective obesity therapies.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
“The answer may be: more methionine capacity, a reversion in polyamide spreads and another round of cost savings as the company adapts to intense competition and slow demand growth,” Bray says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
"He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself."
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
As the astronauts spent more time in space, their cardiovascular systems adapted.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2026
In 2010, the show was adapted for a concert tour in which was captured on film.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Clayface first appeared in DC comics in 1940 as a Batman villain, however the character has never been adapted for cinema, until now, and it is the first major studio movie role for Rhys Harries.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Chaparral are adapted to fire every 30 to 130 years — not every eight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
All those features make low-latitude plants poorly adapted to high-latitude conditions, and vice versa.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
The company was behind its competitors in recognizing the weak trends and adapting its marketing strategy, Cavanagh says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Fernandez suggests that the aging brain may be adapting to help individuals preserve and share the knowledge they have acquired throughout their lives.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026
BBC Breakfast recently visited Collingham FC in Nottinghamshire to see how the coaches there were adapting to the new format.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Microsoft must demonstrate that Maia’s savings survive the costs of development, deployment and adapting software to run on it.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
American troop levels in Vietnam were nearing 200,000, but the enemy was adapting by breaking into small groups and moving unseen through the rugged mountains and forests.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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