adaptation

• adaption

From French adaptation, from Medieval Latin adaptātiō, from Latin adaptō (“I fit, adjust, modify; I adapt, fit or adjust to”); see adapt.

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

adaptation (countable and uncountable, plural adaptations)

1. (uncountable) The process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.
   • 2015, Jon M. Hawes, Proceedings of the 1989 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, Springer (→ISBN), page 70

     Lifestyle adaptation arises because people inevitably encounter a gap between the style of life they desire and the actual resources they control.

2. (countable) A change that is made or undergone to suit a condition or environment.
   • 1999, Jim Meisenheimer, How to Double Your Sales Without Quadrupling Your Effort, Helbern (→ISBN), page 41

     It's staggering because these adaptations to your schedule can dramatically change your life forever.

3. (uncountable, evolutionary theory) The process of change that an organism undergoes to be better suited to its environment.
   • 1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

     ACCLIMATIZATION, the process of adaptation by which animals and plants are gradually rendered capable of surviving and flourishing in countries remote from their original habitats, or under meteorological conditions different from those which they have usually to endure, and at first injurious to them.

   Antonym: maladaptation

4. (countable, evolutionary theory) An instance of an organism undergoing change, or the structure or behavior that is changed.
   • 1844, Robert Sears, The Guide to Knowledge, Or Repertory of Facts: Forming a Complete Library of Entertaining Information, in the Several Departments of Science, Lterature, and Art, Embellished by Several Hundred Engravings, page 465

     This is the very method adopted, in the structure of the eye, to produce a perfect picture on the retina; it is an adaptation to the laws of light, and the property of color, in natural objects.

5. (uncountable) The process of adapting an artistic work from a different medium.
   • 2010, David K. Irving, Fundamentals of Film Directing, McFarland (→ISBN), page 19

     Plays are rich and suitable sources for adaptation to film.

6. (countable, authorship) An artistic work that has been adapted from a different medium.
   • 1910, Frederick Lawton, Balzac:

     Having partly a bibliographic value, and partly confirming the statements above as to Balzac's influence, the following details concerning theatrical adaptations of some of his novels may serve as a supplement to this chapter.

From Medieval Latin adaptātiō, from Latin adaptō (“I fit, adjust, modify; I adapt, fit or adjust to”).

• IPA^(key): /a.dap.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɔ̃
• Homophone: adaptations

adaptation f (plural adaptations)

1. adaptation (all senses)

• adapter

• “adaptation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).