ADAPTATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does adaptation mean? 

• ADAPTATION (noun)
  The noun ADAPTATION has 3 senses:

1. a written work (as a novel) that has been recast in a new form

2. the process of adapting to something (such as environmental conditions)

3. (physiology) the responsive adjustment of a sense organ (as the eye) to varying conditions (as of light)

  Familiarity information: ADAPTATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ADAPTATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A written work (as a novel) that has been recast in a new form

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

adaptation; version

Context example:

the play is an adaptation of a short novel

Hypernyms ("adaptation" is a kind of...):

piece of writing; writing; written material (the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "adaptation"):

modernization (a modernized version (as of a play))

versification (a metrical adaptation of something (e.g., of a prose text))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The process of adapting to something (such as environmental conditions)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

adaptation; adaption; adjustment

Hypernyms ("adaptation" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "adaptation"):

acclimation; acclimatisation; acclimatization (adaptation to a new climate (a new temperature or altitude or environment))

dedifferentiation (the loss of specialization in form or function)

domestication (adaptation to intimate association with human beings)

differentiation; specialisation; specialization ((biology) the structural adaptation of some body part for a particular function)

Derivation:

adapt (adapt or conform oneself to new or different conditions)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(physiology) the responsive adjustment of a sense organ (as the eye) to varying conditions (as of light)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("adaptation" is a kind of...):

adjustment; alteration; modification (the act of making something different (as e.g. the size of a garment))

Domain category:

physiology (the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "adaptation"):

dark adaptation (the process of adjusting the eyes to low levels of illumination; cones adapt first; rods continue to adapt for up to four hours)

light adaptation (the process of adjusting the eyes to relatively high levels of illumination; the pupil constricts and the cones system is operative)

 Context examples 

Mr. Micawber, I must observe, in his adaptation of himself to a new state of society, had acquired a bold buccaneering air, not absolutely lawless, but defensive and prompt.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

To investigate the biological factors supporting the squirrel’s cold adaptation, researchers created “hibernation in a dish”.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)

It provides policy-oriented solutions for decision-makers in taking adaptation and mitigation actions.

(Bulk of Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2100, SciDev.Net)

An international team of scientists wondered whether the genomes of people who live in a challenging environment for a long period of time show adaptations to that environment.

(Genetic Adaptations to Diet and Climate, NIH)

Scientists believe the 25 percent loss in genetic material resulted from adaptation by the red algae's ancestor to an extreme environment such as a hot spring or low-nutrient habitat.

(Red seaweeds, including those in sushi, thrive despite ancestor's loss of genes, National Science Foundation)

This increase in dose may be necessitated by changes in the metabolism of the drug, or a cellular, physiological or behavioral adaptation to the effects of the drug.

(Drug tolerance, NCI Thesaurus)

Adaptation of tumor cells to anticancer drugs in ways that make the drugs less effective.

(Multidrug resistance, NCI Dictionary)

Tree sloths require specialized limb adaptations, reduced body mass, a slow metabolic rate and claws that act like fulcrums — hooks to accommodate the animals' need to hang onto and traverse treetops.

(Putting the sloth in sloths: Arboreal lifestyle drives slow pace, NSF)

Although some of the genes involved in that adaptation exist in the other plants, they do not switch on when the roots are being flooded.

(Grains in the rain, National Science Foundation)

This allele, which encodes oxytocin-neurophysin 1 protein, is involved in the regulation of smooth muscle contraction during both childbirth and lactation, cardiovascular homeostasis and complex neural processes such as cognition, adaptation and maternal behavior.

(OXT wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)