4 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

adoption

noun

1: the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception; "its adoption by society"; "the proposal found wide acceptance" [syn: {acceptance}, {acceptation}, {espousal}]

2: a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit)

3: the appropriation (of ideas or words etc) from another source; "the borrowing of ancient motifs was very apparent" [syn: {borrowing}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Adoption \A*dop"tion\, noun [L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption.]

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.

2. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.

3. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions. --Jer. Taylor.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

64 Moby Thesaurus words for "adoption": Americanization, acceptance, acculturation, admission, affiliation, appropriation, arrogation, assimilation, assumption, borrowed plumes, circumcision, citizenship by naturalization, citizenship papers, colonization, conquest, conversion, copying, culture shock, derivation, deriving, embracement, embracing, encroachment, enslavement, espousal, imitation, indent, infringement, invasion, mocking, nationalization, naturalization, naturalized citizenship, new birth, new life, occupation, papers, pasticcio, pastiche, pirating, plagiarism, plagiary, playing God, preemption, preoccupation, prepossession, rebirth, redeemedness, redemption, reformation, regeneration, requisition, salvation, second birth, seizure, simulation, spiritual purification, subjugation, takeover, taking, taking over, trespass, trespassing, usurpation

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

Adoption the giving to any one the name and place and privileges of a son who is not a son by birth. (1.) Natural. Thus Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses (Ex. 2:10), and Mordecai Esther (Esther 2:7). (2.) National. God adopted Israel (Ex. 4:22; Deut. 7:6; Hos. 11:1; Rom. 9:4). (3.) Spiritual. An act of God's grace by which he brings men into the number of his redeemed family, and makes them partakers of all the blessings he has provided for them. Adoption represents the new relations into which the believer is introduced by justification, and the privileges connected therewith, viz., an interest in God's peculiar love (John 17:23; Rom. 5:5-8), a spiritual nature (2 Pet. 1:4; John 1:13), the possession of a spirit becoming children of God (1 Pet. 1:14; 2 John 4; Rom. 8:15-21; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 2:15), present protection, consolation, supplies (Luke 12:27-32; John 14:18; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; 2 Cor. 1:4), fatherly chastisements (Heb. 12:5-11), and a future glorious inheritance (Rom. 8:17,23; James 2:5; Phil. 3:21).
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