adaptations

Noun

adaptation (countable and uncountable, plural adaptations)

1. (uncountable) The process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.
   • To sum up, the Furka-Oberalp Railway is a good example of the adaptation of the rack-and-pinion system to a main line over mountainous terrain.1950 November, H. P. White, “The Furka-Oberalp Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 770
2. (countable) A change that is made or undergone to suit a condition or environment.
   • It's staggering because these adaptations to your schedule can dramatically change your life forever.1999, Jim Meisenheimer, How to Double Your Sales Without Quadrupling Your Effort, Helbern, →ISBN, page 41
3. (uncountable) The process of replacing a given morpheme of a source lexeme with an equivalent morpheme of the target lexeme, especially where the two morphemes are cognates.
4. (uncountable, evolutionary theory) The process of change that an organism undergoes to be better suited to its environment.
   • ACCLIMATIZATION, the process of adaptation by which animals and plants are gradually rendered capable of surviving and flourishing in countries remote from their original habitats, or under meteorological conditions different from those which they have usually to endure, and at first injurious to...1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

   Antonyms:

   maladaptation

5. (countable, evolutionary theory) An instance of an organism undergoing change, or the structure or behavior that is changed.
   • This is the very method adopted, in the structure of the eye, to produce a perfect picture on the retina; it is an adaptation to the laws of light, and the property of color, in natural objects.1844, Robert Sears, The Guide to Knowledge, Or Repertory of Facts: Forming a Complete Library of Entertaining Information, in the Several Departments of Science, Lterature, and Art, Embellished by...
6. (uncountable) The process of adapting an artistic work from a different medium.
   • Plays are rich and suitable sources for adaptation to film.2010, David K. Irving, Fundamentals of Film Directing, McFarland, →ISBN, page 19

See all 8 meanings of adaptation