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Webster 1913 Edition


Adopt

A-dopt′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Adopted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Adopting
.]
[L.
adoptare
;
ad
+
optare
to choose, desire: cf. F.
adopter
. See
Option
.]
1.
To take by choice into relationship, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.; esp. to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one’s own child.
2.
To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally; to select and take or approve;
as, to
adopt
the view or policy of another; these resolutions were
adopted
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Adopt

ADOPT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. adopto, of ad and opto, to desire or choose. See Option.]
1.
To take a stranger into one's family, as son and heir; to take one who is not a child, and treat him as one, giving him a title to the privileges and rights of a child.
2.
In a spiritual sense, to receive the sinful children of men into the invisible church, and into God's favor and protection, by which they become heirs of salvation by Christ.
3.
To take or receive as one's own, that which is not naturally so; as, to adopt the opinions of another; or to receive that which is new; as, to adopt a particular mode of husbandry.
4.
To select and take; as, which mode will you adopt?

Definition 2024


adopt

adopt

English

Verb

adopt (third-person singular simple present adopts, present participle adopting, simple past and past participle adopted)

  1. (transitive, with relationship specified) To take by choice into relationship, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.
  2. (transitive, with relationship implied by context) To take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.
    A friend of mine recently adopted a Chinese baby girl found on the streets of Beijing.
  3. (transitive, with relationship implied by context) To obtain (a pet) from a shelter or the wild.
    We're going to adopt a Dalmatian.
  4. (transitive, with relationship implied by context) To take by choice into the scope of one's responsibility.
    This supermarket chain adopts several families every Yuletide, providing them with money and groceries for the holidays.
  5. (transitive) To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
    • 2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times:
      [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.
  6. (transitive) To select and take or approve.
    to adopt the view or policy of another
    These resolutions were adopted.

Translations

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