adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

1

: made or acquired by adoption

the adoptive father

2

: of or relating to adoption

adoptively adverb

Examples of adoptive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rines told the Post that Robbie Tower was forced to call the police on Dima about three years ago, after his adoptive son allegedly attacked him and left him with a black eye. —Danielle Wallace, Fox News, 7 Sep. 2023

When his grade-point average still proves too low for the NCAA, his adoptive father, a canny former college basketball standout named Sean Tuohy, manages to find a crucial loophole. —Steve Almond, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2023

In the 2009 movie, Bullock played Oher's adoptive mother Leigh Anne Tuohy, while Tim McGraw played his adoptive father Sean Tuohy. —Brendan Morrow, The Week, 14 Aug. 2023

Officials posted a photo of the adoptive siblings snuggling by the river after a swim. —Brooke Baitinger, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2023

Luz Vargas, Fuentes' adoptive mother who runs a local cleaning service, was working five miles away. —Lilia Luciano, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2023

South Florida’s warm wetlands offer the perfect adoptive habitat. —Max G. Levy, WIRED, 18 Aug. 2023

The book became the basis of an even more popular film that won Sandra Bullock an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Touhy, Oher’s fiercely protective adoptive mother. —Steve Almond, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2023

In an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, How to Say Babylon, poet Safiya Sinclair recounts her upbringing in Jamaica—a life under livity, to use the argot of her parents’ adoptive Rastafarian tradition. —Peter Rubin, Longreads, 1 Aug. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Middle English adoptif, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French adoptif, going back to Old French, borrowed from Latin adoptīvus, from adoptāre "to adopt" + -īvus -ive

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing adoptive

• adoptive immunotherapy
• adoptive parent

• adoptive immunotherapy
• adoptive parent

Kids Definition

adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

: made by or associated with adoption

the adoptive parents

Legal Definition

adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

1

a

: having adopted

an adoptive parent

b

: having been adopted

an adoptive child

2

: made or acquired by accepting as one's own the words or actions of another

to constitute an adoptive admission…defendant must actually understand what was said and have an opportunity to deny it

—United States v. White, 766 F. Supp. 873 (1991)