adopt

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA ^(key): /əˈdɑpt/
• (UK) IPA ^(key): /əˈdɒpt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form adopt

Third-person singular adopts

Past tense adopted

Past participle adopted

Present participle adopting

1. (transitive) If you adopt something, you choose and begin to use it instead of what you used in the past.

   Now that we know they work, it is important that these policies be adopted by other districts.

   The outcome depends entirely on the approach you adopt.

   The technology developed in Asia has since been adopted by the telephone systems in Japan and much of the rest of Western Europe.

   When she moved out west, she adopted a new name.

2. (transitive & intransitive) If you adopt a child, you make them part of your own family.

   They finally quit trying to have their own child and ended up adopting a baby girl.

Synonyms

• foster
• take in
• take on

Antonyms

• give up
• reject

Related words

• adoption
• adoptive
• adopter