adoption

a-dop-tion · noun

imported

Definitions

noun

  1. 1.

    The legal process of taking another person's child into one's own family and raising them as one's own.

  2. 2.

    The act of choosing to take up or follow an idea, method, or course of action.

  3. 3.

    The formal acceptance or approval of something.

Forms

plural: adoptions

Phrases & expressions

  • •
    put up for adoption — To offer a child to be adopted by others.
  • •
    adoption agency — An organization that arranges adoptions.
  • •
    open adoption — An adoption where contact is maintained with birth parents.

Related words

Antonyms: abandonment, rejection
See also: adopt, adopted, foster, guardianship
Synonyms: acceptance, embracing, taking on

Etymology

From Latin adoptio ("adoption"), from adoptare ("to choose for oneself").