adoption
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /əˈdɑp.ʃən/
  • (RP) IPA: /əˈdɒp.ʃən/
Noun

adoption

  1. The act of adopting.
  2. The state of being adopted; the acceptance of a child of other parents as if he or she were one's own child.
    A Chinese baby girl was given away for adoption.
    Another Chinese boy was put up for adoption.
    • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace ↗”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC ↗; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831 ↗, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
      “The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached ; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas. […]”
  3. Admission to an institution, for example a hospital, clinic, mental asylum.
    the adoption of people into hospitals or monasteries
  4. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance
    the adoption of opinions
    the adoption of words from another language
  5. (computing) Transfer between an old system to another (usually better) system.
    Our company is considering the adoption of a four-day week.
  6. (theology) An act of divine grace by which the redeemed in Christ are admitted to the privileges of the sons of God.
  7. (chess, slang) Ten consecutive wins against an opponent.
    Infuriated by his adoption yesterday, the chess master has resolved to study twice as long and twice as hard.
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