adopt. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

adopt

SYLLABICATION:	a·dopt
PRONUNCIATION:	-dpt
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: a·dopt·ed, a·dopt·ing, a·dopts 1. To take into one's family through legal means and raise as one's own child. 2a. To take and follow (a course of action, for example) by choice or assent: adopt a new technique. b. To take up and make one's own: adopt a new idea. 3. To take on or assume: adopted an air of importance. 4. To vote to accept: adopt a resolution. 5. To choose as standard or required in a course: adopt a new line of English textbooks.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English adopten, from Old French adopter, from Latin adoptre : ad-, ad- + optre, to choose.
OTHER FORMS:	a·dopta·bili·ty —NOUN a·dopta·ble —ADJECTIVE a·dopter —NOUN a·doption —NOUN
USAGE NOTE:	Children are adopted by parents, and one normally refers to an adopted child but to adoptive parents, families, and homes. When describing places, one can use either adopted or adoptive: She enjoys living in her adopted country. Detroit is their adoptive city.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.