HI700{"id":699,"date":"2021-08-20T10:44:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T10:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/?p=699"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","slug":"adapt-vs-adopt-what-is-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/adapt-vs-adopt-what-is-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Adapt vs. Adopt &#8211; What is the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Adapt vs Adopt<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Adapt<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is used either when a change is made to make something more suitable for a particular use or when adjusting to a new place. <em><strong>Adopt<\/strong><\/em> is used when something is taken over, chosen, accepted or approved by choice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Adapt<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>adopt\u00a0<\/em>are two verbs that sound similar but have completely different meanings. No wonder they<em>\u00a0<\/em>easily make for the most commonly confused words! Let us decipher the subtleties of these words so that you can make the correct word choice and be confident of delivering clear and concise writing consistently.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_50 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\" role=\"button\"><label for=\"item-6a048d4560b61\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><input  type=\"checkbox\" id=\"item-6a048d4560b61\"><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/adapt-vs-adopt-what-is-the-difference\/#When_is_adapt_used\" title=\"When is\u00a0adapt\u00a0used?\u00a0\">When is\u00a0adapt\u00a0used?\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/adapt-vs-adopt-what-is-the-difference\/#When_is_adopt_used\" title=\"When is\u00a0adopt\u00a0used?\u00a0\">When is\u00a0adopt\u00a0used?\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/adapt-vs-adopt-what-is-the-difference\/#How_to_use_adapt_and_adopt_correctly_in_academic_writing\" title=\"How to use\u00a0adapt\u00a0and\u00a0adopt\u00a0correctly in academic writing?\">How to use\u00a0adapt\u00a0and\u00a0adopt\u00a0correctly in academic writing?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_is_adapt_used\"><\/span><strong>When is\u00a0<em>adapt<\/em>\u00a0used?\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Adapt\u00a0is used either when a change is made to make something more suitable for a particular use or when adjusting to a new place. In literature and film, adapt is used to show that a book or play has been made by modifying a piece of work of another genre or medium. For instance,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The cosmetics are adapted to suit all skin types.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I adapted myself to the new work environment very quickly.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>George R. R. Martin\u2019s Game of Thrones was adapted for television.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_is_adopt_used\"><\/span><strong>When is\u00a0<em>adopt<\/em>\u00a0used?\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Adopt is used when something is taken over, chosen, accepted or approved by choice. For instance,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>I always adopt healthy eating habits for my well-being.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>The company adopted new HR policies for a better work culture. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Adopt is also a term used to legally take a child home as a part of the family. For instance,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>He decided to adopt Sam and raise him as his child.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now that you know when to use<em>\u00a0adapt<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>adopt<\/em>\u00b8 let&#8217;s answer another important question.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_use_adapt_and_adopt_correctly_in_academic_writing\"><\/span><strong>How to use\u00a0<em>adapt<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>adopt\u00a0<\/em>correctly in academic writing?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While <em>adapt<\/em> can be transitive or intransitive which means it may or may not have reference to a direct object, \u2018adopt\u2019 will always be transitive and have a reference to a direct object.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an example unique to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/\">academic and technical writing<\/a> for a better understanding.<\/p>\n<p><em>Incorrect: We adapted Charles Darwin&#8217;s theory of evolution for our study.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Correct: We adopted Charles Darwin&#8217;s theory of evolution for our study.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So, you can finally strike off\u00a0<em>adapt\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>adopt\u00a0<\/em>from your list of &#8216;confusing words&#8217;. With the help of Trinka <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/grammar-checker\">Grammar Checker<\/a>, you can confidently use commonly confused words correctly and get ready for the appreciation you deserve!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adapt vs Adopt &#8211; Adapt\u00a0is used either when a change is made to make something more suitable for a particular use or when adjusting to a new place. Adopt is used when something is taken over, chosen, accepted or approved by choice.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[176,17],"acf":[],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/21.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4378,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/4378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}