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adapt

/əˈdæpt//əˈdæpt/·verb
to change yourself or something to suit new conditions
Fig. 1 — A chameleon grips a branch, and the patch of surface beneath it keeps changing — a green leaf, then rough brown bark, then pale grey stone.
01Definition

To adapt is to change shape in order to keep living — the Latin adaptare means 'to fit to', and 'apt' still carries the fittedness. Species adapt to climates over generations; newcomers adapt to cities in months; a novel is adapted for the screen by surrendering the form that no longer fits. The word's quiet lesson is that survival belongs not to the strongest silhouette but to the one willing to revise it: what refuses the new shape forfeits the passage.

02In use
  • iWorkers must adapt as technology shifts, or watch their skills become obsolete.
  • iiFirms that adapt during downturns often emerge stronger from them.
  • iiiThe novel was adapted for television with surprising faithfulness.
03Collocations
  • adapt to change
  • adapt quickly
  • well adapted to
  • adapt a novel for
  • the ability to adapt

Family adaptation (noun) · adaptable (adjective) · adaptive (adjective)

04Relations

=adjust, modify, acclimatize, tailor, conform

≠resist change, ossify

05Compared
PairThe difference
adapt vs adeptchanging to fit is to adApt (verb); already skilled is adEpt (adjective); 'take up' is adopt.
adapt vs modifyyou adapt TO new conditions (change to fit); you modify a thing (rework its features on purpose).
06TOEFL & IELTS

Core TOEFL biology vocabulary: organisms are 'well adapted to' their environments, and 'adaptation' is a passage-defining term. IELTS essays on technology and work lean on 'workers must adapt to'; in Speaking, 'adaptable' is a strong self-description. Spelling trap examiners love: adapt (adjust) vs. adopt (take up) — 'adopt a policy', but 'adapt to a situation'.

07Asked
What is the difference between adapt and adopt?
Adapt is to change something so it fits ('adapt to city life'); adopt is to take something up as your own ('adopt a policy, a child, an attitude'). The two often chain: a company adopts a strategy, then adapts it to local markets. One vowel apart, but the direction differs — adopting takes in, adapting reshapes.
Is it 'adapt to' or 'adapt with'?
Adapt to — always, for conditions: 'students adapt to a new timetable'. 'Adapt with' is simply wrong. The other legitimate preposition is for, marking purpose. And adapt can take a plain object with no preposition at all: 'they adapted the recipe'.
What is the difference between adapt, adept, and adopt?
Three different words examiners love to line up. Adapt (verb): adjust to fit. Adopt (verb): take up as your own. Adept (adjective): highly skilled — 'adept at chess'. The verbs act; the adjective describes. For the adapt–adept pair specifically, two animated scenes sit side by side on the adapt vs adept page in the 'Compared' list above.
What does adaptation mean in biology?
A heritable trait, shaped by natural selection, that fits an organism to its environment — thick fur in the Arctic, deep roots in drought. Camouflage is the textbook case, and the scene above plays it: a chameleon's skin flooding to match leaf, bark, then stone. Note the biology idiom: species are 'well adapted to' their habitat.
Is it 'adapted to' or 'adapted for'?
Both exist with different logic. Adapted to = fitted to conditions, common in science: 'cacti are adapted to drought'. Adapted for = reworked for a purpose or audience: 'the novel was adapted for television'. Ask what follows: an environment takes to, an intended use takes for.
What is the difference between adaptable and adaptive?
Adaptable means able to change — a quality of the thing itself: an adaptable employee, an adaptable design. Adaptive means involving or produced by adaptation: adaptive behaviour, adaptive technology, adaptive cruise control. People are praised as adaptable; systems and responses are described as adaptive.
What is the difference between adapt and modify?
The short version: you adapt to conditions (the change is driven from outside), you modify a thing (deliberate rework of its features). The full comparison — chameleon against workshop, construction against construction — lives on the adapt vs modify page linked in the 'Compared' list above.