verb (used with object)
- to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly: They adapted themselves to the change quickly. He adapted the novel for movies.
verb (used without object)
- to adjust oneself to different conditions, environment, etc.: to adapt easily to all circumstances.
verb
- (often foll by to) to adjust (someone or something, esp oneself) to different conditions, a new environment, etc
- (tr) to fit, change, or modify to suit a new or different purposeto adapt a play for use in schools
early 15c. (implied in adapted) “to fit (something, for some purpose),” from Middle French adapter (14c.), from Latin adaptare “adjust,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + aptare “join,” from aptus “fitted” (see apt). Meaning “to undergo modification so as to fit new circumstances” (intransitive) is from 1956. Related: Adapting.