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Definition of adoption noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

adoption

noun
 
/əˈdɒpʃn/
 
/əˈdɑːpʃn/
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  1. [uncountable, countable] the act of adopting a child; the fact of being adopted
    • She put the baby up for adoption.
    • The number of adoptions has fallen markedly since the 1970s.
    • adoption into something his adoption into an American family
    Collocations ChildrenChildrenHaving a baby/​child
    • want a baby/​a child/​kids
    • start a family
    • conceive/​be expecting/​be going to have a baby/​child
    • miss your period
    • become/​get/​be/​find out that you are pregnant
    • have a baby/​a child/​kids/​a son/​a daughter/​twins/​a family
    • have a normal/​a difficult/​an unwanted pregnancy; an easy/​a difficult/​a home birth
    • be in/​go into/​induce labour (especially US English) labor
    • have/​suffer/​cause a miscarriage
    • give birth to a child/​baby/​daughter/​son/​twins
    Parenting
    • bring up/ (especially North American English) raise a child/​family
    • care for/ (especially British English) look after a baby/​child/​kid
    • change (British English) a nappy/(North American English) a diaper/​a baby
    • feed/​breastfeed/​bottle-feed a baby
    • be entitled to/​go on maternity/​paternity leave
    • go back/​return to work after maternity leave
    • need/​find/​get a babysitter/​good quality affordable childcare
    • balance/​combine work and childcare/​child-rearing/​family life
    • educate/​teach/​home-school a child/​kid
    • punish/​discipline/​spoil a child/​kid
    • adopt a baby/​child/​kid
    • offer a baby for/​put a baby up for adoption
    • (especially British English) foster a child/​kid
    • be placed with/​be raised by foster parents
    Extra Examples
    • They were so happy when the adoption went through successfully.
    • When will the child be available for adoption?
    Topics Life stagesc1, Law and justicec1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + adoption
    • offer somebody for
    • place somebody for
    • put somebody up for
    adoption + verb
    • go through
    adoption + noun
    • agency
    See full entry
  2. [uncountable] the decision to start using something such as an idea, a plan or a name
    • The widespread adoption of new information technology could save $162 billion a year.
    • The committee recommended the adoption of new safety procedures.
    Topics Preferences and decisionsc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • general
    • widespread
    • formal
    verb + adoption
    • recommend
    • urge
    See full entry
  3. [uncountable, countable] (British English, politics) the act of choosing somebody as a candidate for an election
    • his adoption as the Labour candidate
    • The party announced the formal adoption of George Smith as their election candidate.
  4. Word OriginMiddle English: from Latin adoptio(n-), from ad- ‘to’ + optio(n-) ‘choosing’, from the stem of optare ‘choose’.
See adoption in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee adoption in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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adjective
 
 
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