adaptive

[ uh-dap-tiv ]

adjective

1. serving or able to adapt; showing or contributing to adaptation:

   the adaptive coloring of a chameleon.

Other Words From

• a·daptive·ly adverb
• a·daptive·ness noun
• ad·ap·tiv·i·ty [ad-ap-, tiv, -i-tee], noun
• nona·daptive adjective
• rea·daptive adjective
• rea·daptive·ly adverb
• rea·daptive·ness noun
• una·daptive adjective
• una·daptive·ly adverb
• una·daptive·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of adaptive¹

First recorded in 1815–25; adapt + -ive

Example Sentences

The even darker side of smart is that competition doesn’t just select an ability to manipulate but also an adaptive ability to be unpredictable.

From Nautilus

Their specificity is related to their long-lasting effects, because vaccines engage the adaptive branch of the immune system — the B and T lymphocytes and antibodies that recognize a given pathogen.

From Quanta Magazine

Many of the gene losses involved traits that the animals no longer needed, but Hiller proposes that at least one loss was adaptive.

From Quanta Magazine

There’s also a clever adaptive-suspension system, which uses a dozen sensors to scan the road then instantly make adjustments so the Aviator can glide smoothly over potholes.

From Washington Blade

In A Grand Journey, from Après Visuals, we get an intimate look into this adaptive athlete’s unique path to the summit.

From Outside Online

To see the adaptive benefits of depression, it helps to consider certain cruel but illuminating studies.

From The Daily Beast

One sign that depression is an adaptive behavioral response is its widespread presence in the animal kingdom.

From The Daily Beast

She loves to be outdoors,” Lori says, “She loves to swim and to ride her adaptive bike.

From The Daily Beast

What adaptive technology has been the most useful or important for you?

From The Daily Beast

What area/tasks would you most like to see more adaptive technology developed for?

From The Daily Beast

Though the squirrels have taken to the trees, there has been no adaptive change in the structure of their limbs and feet.

From Project Gutenberg

Those closely related to human infancy, adapting and adjusting the child to the world in which he lives, may be called adaptive.

From Project Gutenberg

Their foreheads are meaner, and their eyes hard, but the whole face rather more adaptive and in touch with life.

From Project Gutenberg

The adaptive or "special organising force" or ἰδέα, on the other hand, produces the diversity of organic 112beings.

From Project Gutenberg

Somehow, the plague incubation period had been shortened to fit their life span; the disease was nothing if not adaptive.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• flexible