adoptive

/ə'dɔptiv/

Thân thiện

An adoptive mother reads a bedtime story to her young daughter.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Related to or acquired through adoption: Describes a familial relationship established by legal adoption, not by biological birth.
   • Chosen or taken as one's own: Can describe something (e.g., a country, role, or idea) that has been willingly and formally taken on or embraced.

Usage and Examples

• Describing a familial relationship:
  • They are my adoptive parents. (They became my parents through legal adoption.)
  • She has a strong bond with her adoptive sister. (Her sister is related to her by adoption.)
• Describing something chosen or embraced:
  • After living there for 20 years, he felt a deep connection to his adoptive country. (He chose to embrace that country as his own.)
  • The city was her adoptive home. (She chose to make that city her home.)

Advanced Usage

• "Adoptive" vs. "Adopted": "Adoptive" typically describes the parent or family who does the adopting (e.g., adoptive father). "Adopted" describes the child or person who is taken into the family (e.g., adopted daughter). However, "adoptive" can sometimes be used more broadly for the family unit.
• In formal or legal contexts: The term is standard in legal documents and formal descriptions of family structures created by law.

Variants and Related Words

• Adopt (verb): To take and use as one's own; to take a child into one's family legally.
  • They decided to adopt a child.
• Adoption (noun): The act or process of adopting.
  • The adoption process was lengthy but rewarding.
• Adoptee (noun): A person who is adopted.
• Adopter (noun): A person who adopts.

Synonyms

• Non-biological (in the context of family).
• Foster (Note: "Foster" usually implies temporary care, while "adoptive" implies permanent legal relationship).
• Chosen.

Antonyms

• Biological.
• Birth (as in ).
• Natural (in the context of family).

Notes

• The word adoptive is primarily used as an adjective and is not typically used to form phrasal verbs or idioms on its own. Its meaning is carried in the noun phrases it modifies (e.g., adoptive family, adoptive home).

Học thuật

Adjective

1. acquired as your own by free choice
   • my adopted state
   • an adoptive country
2. of parents and children; related by adoption
   • adoptive parents

Từ đồng nghĩa

• adopted