adoption Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception
    espousal; acceptation; acceptance.
    • its adoption by society
    • the proposal found wide acceptance
  2. noun a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit)
  3. noun the appropriation (of ideas or words etc) from another source
    borrowing.
    • the borrowing of ancient motifs was very apparent

WordNet

A*dop"tion noun
Etymology
L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption.
Definitions
  1. The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
  2. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.
  3. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions. Jer. Taylor.

Webster 1913