adaptation

What it means

1. uncountableThe process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.

   To sum up, the Furka-Oberalp Railway is a good example of the adaptation of the rack-and-pinion system to a main line over mountainous terrain.

   1950 November, H. P. White, “The Furka-Oberalp Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 770

   1 more example

   Lifestyle adaptation arises because people inevitably encounter a gap between the style of life they desire and the actual resources they control.

   2015, Jon M. Hawes, Proceedings of the 1989 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, Springer, →ISBN, page 70

2. countableA change that is made or undergone to suit a condition or environment.

   It's staggering because these adaptations to your schedule can dramatically change your life forever.

   1999, Jim Meisenheimer, How to Double Your Sales Without Quadrupling Your Effort, Helbern, →ISBN, page 41

3. uncountablehuman sciencesThe process of replacing a given morpheme of a source lexeme with an equivalent morpheme of the target lexeme, especially where the two morphemes are cognates.

In a sentence

To sum up, the Furka-Oberalp Railway is a good example of the adaptation of the rack-and-pinion system to a main line over mountainous terrain.

1950 November, H. P. White, “The Furka-Oberalp Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 770

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
2. Proto-Italic*ad
3. Proto-Italic*ad-
4. Latinad-
5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep-
6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ptós
7. Proto-Italic*aptos
8. Latinaptus
9. Proto-Indo-European[Term?]
10. Proto-Italic*apjō
11. Latinapiō
12. Latinaptō
13. Latinadaptō
14. Medieval Latinadaptātiō
15. Frenchadaptation
16. Englishadaptation

From French adaptation, from Medieval Latin adaptātiō, from Latin adaptō (“to fit, adjust, modify; to adapt, fit or adjust to”); see adapt. Equivalent to adapt + -ation.