adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

1

: made or acquired by adoption

the adoptive father

2

: of or relating to adoption

adoptively adverb

Examples of adoptive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

What to know May 2, 2025 6:12 PM Read Next National River otter who gave adoptive pups ‘second chance’ at life dies at Oregon zoo May 1, 2025 5:16 PM This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 1:37 PM. —Olivia Lloyd, Miami Herald, 6 May 2025

This will be Pugh's third round as Yelena, an assassin and adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 2 May 2025

Reid’s Grace returns to her new adoptive home with the Mans to then see the massive social media response to her birth mother’s video. —Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 1 May 2025

David Zayas will reprise his role in the original series as Miami Metro Captain Angel Batista along with cameos from John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer, Jimmy Smits as ADA Miguel Prado and James Remar as Dexter’s late adoptive father, Harry Morgan, in ghost form, per Deadline. —Emily Blackwood, People.com, 1 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English adoptif, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French adoptif, going back to Old French, borrowed from Latin adoptīvus, from adoptāre "to adopt" + -īvus -ive

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing adoptive

• adoptive immunotherapy
• adoptive parent

Kids Definition

adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

: made by or associated with adoption

the adoptive parents

Legal Definition

adoptive

adjective

adop·​tive ə-ˈdäp-tiv 

1

a

: having adopted

an adoptive parent

b

: having been adopted

an adoptive child

2

: made or acquired by accepting as one's own the words or actions of another

to constitute an adoptive admission…defendant must actually understand what was said and have an opportunity to deny it

—United States v. White, 766 F. Supp. 873 (1991)