adapt
/əˈdæpt/verb, adjective
adapt is spelled A-D-A-P-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “adapt vs adopt” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, adapt means “To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in adapt?
| Letters | 5: A-D-A-P-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is adapt?
Adapt appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adapt?
- /əˈdæpt/
Adapt has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-adapt.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with adapt
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of adapt
- adapts present, singular, he/she/it
- adapting participle, present
- adapted participle, past
- more adapt comparative
- most adapt superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adapt mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit.
- 2
To fit by alteration; to modify or remodel for a different purpose; to adjust.
to adapt a story for the stage
- 3
To make by altering or fitting something else; to produce by change of form or character.
to bring out a play adapted from the French
- 4
To make oneself comfortable to a new thing.
They could not adapt to the new climate and so perished.
adjective
- 1
Adapted; fit; suited; suitable; apt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate adapt?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of adapt: ad..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adapt in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | adapter , s'adapter |
| German | anpassen, angleichen, anwenden, einrichten , modifizieren |
| Portuguese | adaptar , adaptar-se a |
| Spanish | adaptar , adaptarse, circunscribirse, ceñirse |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.