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Adapt

v. resilient, capable everyday

What it means

Meaning 1

To change what you do or how something works so it fits new conditions.

Reach for it when praising a practical response to changed needs without implying surrender

The library will adapt its workshops for residents with limited vision.

Meaning 2

To reshape an existing work for a different medium, audience, or use.

Reach for it when describing a deliberate conversion that preserves the core material

The playwright will adapt the memoir for a small outdoor stage.

Words to choose between 8

By register, from playful at the top to literary at the bottom, and by meaning across. Tap a word to see when it fits.
Meaning 1Meaning 2
everyday
warm
professional
formal
literary

Meaning 1: To change what you do or how something works so it fits new conditions.

  • everyday

    adjust

    Fits when a limited change restores a good fit

    Careful Adjust suggests a smaller response than reinventing the approach.

  • warm

    be flexible

    Fits when willingness to change matters more than the exact revision

    Careful Flexibility is an attitude; adaptation is the completed response.

  • professional

    pivot

    Fits when strategy changes direction after new information

    Careful Pivot sounds trendy and overstates a minor accommodation.

  • formal

    acclimate

    Fits when a person or organism gradually becomes used to conditions

    Careful Acclimate is not the choice for redesigning a procedure.

  • literary

    evolve

    Fits when change unfolds gradually through experience

    Careful Evolve can make a deliberate decision sound passive.

Meaning 2: To reshape an existing work for a different medium, audience, or use.

  • everyday

    rework

    Fits when substantial editing prepares material for a new use

    Careful Rework can imply repairing flaws rather than serving another audience.

  • professional

    convert

    Fits when format or function changes in a technical way

    Careful Conversion may discard more of the original than adaptation does.

  • literary

    reinterpret

    Fits when a new artistic reading transforms familiar material

    Careful Reinterpretation may change meaning without changing the medium.

Opposites 4

  • resist
  • remain rigid
  • maladjust
  • reproduce

Common phrases 3

  • adapt quickly

    The clinic had to adapt quickly when the bridge closed.

  • adapt to change

    Small firms often adapt to change through close customer contact.

  • adapt a novel

    The director hopes to adapt a novel without losing its quiet humor.

Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated