əˈdäpt transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French adopter, from Latin adoptare, from ad- + optare to choose, desire — more at opine
1. : to take by free choice into a close relationship previously not existing especially by a formal legal act
a country glad to have them as adopted citizens
specifically : to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of or as one's own child
they adopted him as their sole heir
2.
a. : to take up or accept especially as a practice or tenet often evolved by another: as
(1) : to come to believe in : maintain , support
one no longer adopts an idea unless it is driven in with hammers of statistics and columns of figures — Henry Adams
(2) : to accept formally : acknowledge or enact as true, wise, fitting, germane
no proposal for curtailment of the Supreme Court power over legislation has ever been adopted — Felix Frankfurter
(3) : to use as wonted or accustomed : employ , practice
she had adopted a blend of sisterly authority and business brusqueness — William McFee
a precaution which … he had adopted whenever he carried more than two or three shillings — Thomas Hardy
b. : to take over (a loanword) especially with little or no change in form
3. of a deliberative body : to endorse and assume official responsibility for (a resolution of a committee)
4. : to choose (a textbook) for required study in a school subject
Synonyms:
embrace , espouse agree in indicating an accepting, taking, or receiving as a belief to be held or practice to be followed. adopt may stress the fact that the belief or practice is not of one's own invention but is voluntarily taken from another's example
none seem to have yet adopted the utterly abominable European hat — Lafcadio Hearn
Turkey … has adopted a Latin alphabet
gave up old customs reluctantly, but once they had adopted a new one they found it impossible to understand why everyone else did not immediately do likewise — Edith Wharton
It may refer to an attitude or gesture taken or to a bill or measure passed or accepted formally
he noticed that now, far from looking glum, she had adopted a winning manner — Edith Sitwell
Calhoun's address was adopted, the Whigs voting against it — R.P.Brooks
embrace may suggest ready, willing, or happy acceptance or reception of a belief or practice
born on Manhattan's poverty-ridden East Side, they embraced the Communist movement in their teens — New York Times
“I hate inversions”, declared Tennyson — a statement which, I fear, will lead some of the modernists forthwith to embrace them — J.L.Lowes
espouse may indicate either genuine depth of attachment or lasting and participating acceptance and alliance
when … Gobineau's Essay was resuscitated from comparative oblivion and its dogmas passionately and popularly espoused — Ruth Benedict
the spirit of uncompromising individualism that would eventually espouse the principle of democracy in church and state — V.L.Parrington