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# adapt

«adapt» in Mova's school dictionary: **to change so that you fit a new place or situation better** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (adapt, adapts, adapted, adapting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To adapt is to change so that you fit a new place or situation better. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#m1)

2) To adapt something is to change it so it can be used in a new way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#m2)

3) To adapt a book or story is to change it into a film, play or shorter version. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science adaptation is a key idea: animals and plants have features that help them survive where they live (camels for deserts, polar bears for the cold), and living things adapt over very long times. In everyday life people adapt to a new school, house or country. In literacy a film can be «adapted from a book».

### examples

- Polar bears are adapted to live in the cold Arctic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x1)
- It took me a few weeks to adapt to my new school. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x2)
- We adapted the recipe because Sam cannot eat nuts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x3)
- The play was adapted from a famous fairy tale. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x4)
- Cacti are adapted to dry places: they store water in their stems. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x5)
- Our dog quickly adapted to the new house. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x6)
- This is probably another case of adapting one tradition to another. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/#x7)

### note

Regular verb: adapted, adapting. Noun: adaptation. Confusing pair: adapt (change to fit) vs adopt (take as your own, like adopting a pet). A single animal does not grow new body parts because it wants to; species change over many generations.

### In the corpora

- [Muscle soreness a day or two after unusual exercise is normal as muscles adapt, and gentle movement helps.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/34-exercise-and-posture/12/)
- [Plants and animals are adapted to their climate, like polar bears to the Arctic and camels to the desert.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/16-climate-zones/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «adapt» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/adapt/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.