Adaptive

How to spell adaptive

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce adaptive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adaptive mean?

1. adjectiveAble to change or adjust readily to suit new conditions or requirements.

Adaptive in a sentence

• The software uses an adaptive system that adjusts brightness to the surrounding light.

• Resilient teams take an adaptive approach when their plans suddenly change.

Where does adaptive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb adaptare, which meant 'to fit one thing to another'. That verb was built from the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward', joined to aptare, 'to fit', which in turn came from aptus, meaning 'fitted' or 'suited'. The same aptus root sits inside familiar relatives like 'apt', 'aptitude', and 'inept', all carrying the idea of being suited to a purpose. English took 'adapt' through French and Latin in the 1600s, and the adjective 'adaptive' followed by adding the suffix -ive, which signals a tendency or capacity. A useful memory hook is that it keeps just one 'd' and one 'p', exactly as in the bare verb 'adapt', so nothing is doubled.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• apt (fit, suited)
• -ive (adjective: tending to)