# adaptation

Pronunciation: US say "a-dap-TAY-shuhn" /ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/; UK say "a-duhp-TAY-shuhn" /ˌædəpˈteɪʃən/

## Noun

1. A change that something is given or goes through so it fits a particular condition or environment.
   - Simple: A change made to something so it fits a new situation or place.
   - _The team made several adaptations to the design after testing it in cold weather._
   - _Switching to night shifts required a major adaptation in her daily routine._
2. The process of adjusting or modifying something, or of becoming suited to a new situation.
   - Simple: The act of changing something, or getting used to a new situation.
   - _Adaptation to remote work proved harder for some employees than for others._
   - _Successful adaptation to the new software required weeks of training._
3. A creative work based on a story or text that originally appeared in a different medium.
   - Simple: A book, movie, or play made from a story that first appeared in another form.
   - _The stage adaptation drew crowds who had never read the original trilogy._
   - _Critics praised the film as a faithful adaptation of the Russian classic._
4. The process of reworking an artistic work so it can be presented in a different medium.
   - Simple: The work of turning a story from one form, like a book, into another, like a film.
   - _Adaptation for the screen demands choices about what to keep and what to drop._
   - _The novel's adaptation into a miniseries took two years of careful work._
5. An instance of an organism undergoing change, or the structure or behavior that results from it.
   - Simple: A body part or behavior that helps an animal or plant live well where it is.
   - _The cactus's water-storing stem is a classic adaptation to arid conditions._
   - _Many deep-sea fish have adaptations that let them survive crushing pressure._
6. The process by which an organism changes over time to become better suited to its environment.
   - Simple: The slow way living things change over time to fit where they live.
   - _Adaptation allowed cave-dwelling species to lose their eyesight over many generations._
   - _The finches of the Galápagos are a famous example of adaptation in action._
7. The adjustments social groups make to suit different social conditions and physical surroundings.
   - Simple: The ways a group of people change how they live to fit new places or times.
   - _Cultural adaptation enabled nomadic herders to thrive in the high mountains._
   - _Adaptation to coastal life shaped the tools and customs of fishing communities._

## Origin

This word comes from French adaptation, which derives from Medieval Latin adaptātiō and ultimately from Latin adaptō ("I fit, adjust, or modify"). It is essentially "adapt" plus the ending "-ation".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/adaptation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).