Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of adopting or taking as one's own; a choosing for use, or by way of preference or approval; assumption; formal acceptance: as, the adoption of a distinctive dress; he favored the adoption of the bill; the adoption of a new word into a language.
  • noun The act of taking into an affiliated relation; admission to some or all of the privileges of natural kinship or membership: as, the adoption of a child; adoption into a tribe; a son by adoption.
  • noun In theology, that act of divine grace by which, through Christ, those who have been justified “are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God.”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
  • noun Admission to a more intimate relation; reception.
  • noun The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
  • noun Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.
  • noun The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit)
  • noun the appropriation (of ideas or words etc) from another source
  • noun the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French adoption, Latin adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt.

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Examples

  • "The spirit of adoption" Luther translates "the spirit of a child;" _adoption_ he translates

    Unspoken Sermons Series I., II., and II. George MacDonald 1864

  • At the moment, official contact in adoption is most often made through the “letterbox” process.

    Adopted Children Face Anguish As Birth Parents Stalk Them On Facebook | Impact Lab 2010

  • I would love the word adoption not to be part of our vocabulary, along with disease, war and poverty.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • I would love the word adoption not to be part of our vocabulary, along with disease, war and poverty.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • The book was a great overview, but Kyle provided the nitty-gritty details as well as the relationship problems that sometimes surfaced in what he called the adoption triad—the adoptive couple, the birth parents, and the child.

    Saving Grace Denise Hunter 2005

  • Our native land, or the country of our adoption is as dear to us as to the other indwellers.

    The Jews and Patriotism 1916

  • In 2006, the Democrats abandoned their gun control agenda and looked to field pro-life Democrats as the Republicans were being attacked by the Drive-by media for corruption that resulted from the plutocracy of public / private partnerships, or what I call the adoption of liberal crony socialism (a phenomena that Todd Epp incorrectly labels as crony capitalism).

    Sibby Online 2008

  • Plus, when they engage in routines and rituals, and experience their positive consequences, your children gain "buy-in" and ownership of the messages which is essential for their long-term adoption of those messages.

    Dr. Jim Taylor: Four Surefire Ways to Send Messages to Your Children Dr. Jim Taylor 2011

  • We think a healthy percentage of Google Docs adoption is coming from ad hoc use.

    Google Docs gains traction in the office 2009

  • Once applications can easily consume data – and the easier the better – one significant barrier to adoption is removed and the opportunity for users to find value opens up.

    Stowe Boyd launches Microsyntax.org | FactoryCity 2009

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