Adoption

Origin

French adoption, Latin adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt.

Full definition of adoption

Noun

1. The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
• 1905, w, w:The Case of Miss Elliott Chapter 1, “The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached ; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas. …”
2. A Chinese baby girl was given away for adoption.
3. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.
4. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions.