adoptive
adjective
adop·tive
| \ ə-ˈdäp-tiv
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Definition of adoptive
1
: made or acquired by adoption
the adoptive father
2
: of or relating to adoption
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Examples of adoptive in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The actor thanked those who have helped him along the way, including adoptive mother Eve Ensler Dylan McDermott is celebrating 35 years of sobriety. — Jodi Guglielmi, PEOPLE.com, "Dylan McDermott Celebrates 35 Years of Sobriety: It's My 'Greatest Accomplishment'," 20 Aug. 2019 Paltrow plays Payton’s adoptive mother, while Lange co-stars as the grandmother to another character played by Set It Up actress Zoey Deutch. — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, "Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Lange serve strong in The Politician first-look photos," 8 Aug. 2019 D’ashon’s adoptive mother sued the Centene subsidiary in Texas state court. — J. David Mcswane, ProPublica, "Are Trump’s Top Medicaid Regulators Ignoring Major Problems? Insurance Giant’s Tense Meeting With a Senator Adds to Growing Concern.," 6 Aug. 2019 Mason’s adoptive mother, Mylinda Mason, is one of the event's organizers. — NBC News, "Organizer's gay son opposes 'Straight Pride' event," 6 Aug. 2019 D’ashon’s adoptive mother sued the Centene subsidiary in Texas state court. — Tom Benning, Dallas News, "U.S. senator calls Texas Medicaid contractor callous, orders more oversight to protect vulnerable patients," 6 Aug. 2019 Roundtree’s biological mother, Slack, and his adoptive mother, Bernice Roundtree, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of San Antonio and Casanova, a five-year employee of the department. — Elizabeth Zavala, ExpressNews.com, "Family of dead teen will pursue lawsuit against San Antonio over fatal shooting by police officer," 18 July 2019 The story that was published named Sharp as the adoptive mother and included pictures of Elliott even though adoption cases are confidential under Alabama law. — Howard Koplowitz | [email protected], al.com, "Facebook page tied to contentious Alabama adoption case can go back online, Supreme Court rules," 29 June 2019 This was never about the money’: San Jose man serially abused by adoptive parents gets $28 million judgment. — Taylor Kate Brown, SFChronicle.com, "Bay Briefing: Updating the 49 Mile Route," 9 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adoptive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for adoptive
adoptive
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of adoptive
—used to describe a parent who has adopted a child
See the full definition for adoptive in the English Language Learners Dictionary
adoptive
adjective
adop·tive
| \ ə-ˈdäp-tiv
\
\
Legal Definition of adoptive
1a
: 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)