adopt

adoptverb

Adopt is to take a child into your family as your own, or to start using a plan, method, or way of doing something.

1. take in a childtake a child who is not your own biological child into your family, permanently and legally

   transitive or intransitive [T/I]

   • They adopted a baby girl from overseas.
   • She was adopted when she was two.
   • The couple has decided to adopt.
   • Many families choose to adopt an older child.

   Synonyms borrow

2. start usingstart to use a particular method, plan, idea, or attitude

   transitive [T]

   • The company adopted a new marketing strategy.
   • He adopted a more relaxed attitude toward work.
   • Many schools have adopted this teaching method.
   • The new safety rules were adopted last month. usually passive

   Collocations

   verb + noun adopt a policy, adopt a strategy, adopt an approach