From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadapta‧dapt /əˈdæpt/ ●●○ W3 verb 1 [intransitive, transitive]CHANGE/MAKE something DIFFERENT to gradually change your behaviour and attitudes in order to be successful in a new situationadapt to The children are finding it hard to adapt to the new school. flowers which are well adapted to harsh winters The ability to adapt is a definite asset in this job.adapt yourself/itself etc (to something) How do these insects adapt themselves to new environments?2 [transitive]CHANGE/MAKE something DIFFERENT to change something to make it suitable for a different purposeadapt something to do something The car has been adapted to take unleaded gas.adapt something for somebody These teaching materials can be adapted for older children.3 [transitive]ALAPT if a book or play is adapted for film, television etc, it is changed so that it can be made into a film, television programme etc → adaptationbe adapted for something Many children buy books after they have been adapted for television.Grammar Adapt is usually passive in this meaning. —adapted adjective She lives in a specially adapted flat.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
adapt• The movie was adapted by Forsyth from his own bestselling novel.• Le Carré's latest novel is soon to be adapted for television.• The materials in the book can be adapted for use with older children.• Yet there was an opening for Rice if he carefully adapted his power strategies to the political situation.• As the nature of insider dealing changed, there was a corresponding need to adapt other legal doctrines to fit the abuse.• They have adapted their house so they can look after their disabled son more easily.• His typewriter was adapted to provide keys for mathematical symbols.• These recipes can be easily adapted to suit vegetarians.• Supposedly, these are the ones that are best adapted to the area, and therefore grow happily without much help.• Punishment must be fitted, closely tailored to the state of the spirit, adapted to the need of the soul.• In adapting to this expanded role the auditor faces many difficulties.• This in turn made it a simple matter to adapt Watt's engine to provide rotary motion.adapt to• She adapted remarkably well to eating a limited diet, and she's lost a great deal of weight.• After living in a house with a garden, it's hard to adapt to living in a flat.• Slowly the country is adapting to the new market economy.adapt something to do something• Researchers had adapted a blood test to look for early signs of the disease.be adapted for something• Please note these wordings are only guidelines and can be adapted for each individual case.• Once requisitioned, vessels originally built for commercial purposes had to be adapted for military ones.• Such a barn is easy to load and unload and may be adapted for other uses when empty.• Pheasant: readily available and surprisingly cheap, any chicken recipe can be adapted for pheasant.• Like the rock skippers, they are adapted for traveling across the land almost faster than a man cam move.• The cash will be used to buy a computer which will be adapted for use by disabled children.• During the 1950s further work on marine guidance was adapted for use in ballistic missiles.Origin adapt (1400-1500) French adapter, from Latin adaptare, from ad- “to” + aptare “to make fit”, from aptus; → APT 