adapt

Etymology

From Middle English *adapten (attested in Middle English adapted (past participle)), from Latin adaptāre (“to fit to”), from ad- (“to”) + aptāre (“to make fit”), from aptus (“fit”); see apt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈdæpt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æpt

Verb

adapt (third-person singular simple present adapts, present participle adapting, simple past and past participle adapted)

1. (transitive) To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit

   Synonym: proportion

2. (transitive) To fit by alteration; to modify or remodel for a different purpose; to adjust

   to adapt a story for the stage

   to adapt an old machine to a new manufacture

3. (transitive) To make by altering or fitting something else; to produce by change of form or character

   to bring out a play adapted from the French

   a word of an adapted form

4. (intransitive) To make oneself comfortable to a new thing.

   They could not adapt to the new climate and so perished.

Adjective

adapt (comparative more adapt, superlative most adapt)

1. Adapted; fit; suited; suitable; apt.
   • c. 1709, Merlin's Prophecy, Jonathan Swift:

     This prediction, though somewhat obscure, is wonderfully adapt.

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “adapt”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• APDTA

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈdap(t)/

Verb

adapt (third-person singular simple present adapts, present participle adaptin, simple past adaptit, past participle adaptit)

1. to adapt

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.