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adoptive

American  
[uh-dop-tiv] / əˈdɒp tɪv /

adjective

  1. of or involving adoption.

  2. acquired or related by adoption.

    an adoptive father or son.

  3. tending to adopt.

adoptive British  
/ əˈdɒptɪv /

adjective

  1. acquired or related by adoption

    an adoptive father

  2. of or relating to adoption Compare adopted

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

Although adoptive in the sense “acquired or related by adoption” can refer to either parent or child in such a relationship, adoptive is customarily applied to the parent ( her adoptive mother ) and adopted to the child ( their adopted son ).

Other Word Forms

  • adoptively adverb
  • unadoptive adjective
  • unadoptively adverb

Etymology

Origin of adoptive

1400–50; < Latin adoptīvus; adopt, -ive; replacing late Middle English adoptife < Middle French adoptif

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.