| / English Dictionary |
ADAPTATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
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)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A written work (as a novel) that has been recast in a new form
Example:
the play is an adaptation of a short novel
Synonyms:
adaptation; version
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
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 3
Meaning:
The process of adapting to something (such as environmental conditions)
Synonyms:
adaptation; adaption; adjustment
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
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)
Context examples:
A relatively complete cranium from the Afar region is a valuable addition to the hominin fossil record, providing another piece in the puzzle for reconstructing hominin adaptation and evolution.
(3.8-million-year-old fossil cranium unveils more about human ancestry, National Science Foundation)
Pepper grafting could become an environmentally friendly adaptation strategy, says Angeles Calatayud, a researcher at the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias in Valencia, Spain, and co-author of the paper.
(Grafting helps pepper plants deal with drought, SciDev.Net)
The work by Dr Kiyoko Gotanda, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge, is one of the first studies to look at behavioural adaptations in a species following the eradication of invasive predators.
(A decade after the predators have gone, Galapagos Island finches are still being spooked, University of Cambridge)
When an excitatory current develops in response to social stress—and is driven high enough for a sustained period—it triggers its own compensatory adaptation.
(Self-tuning neurons promote resilience to stress, depression, NIH)
Elevated intracellular Ca causes adaptation by at least two different molecular steps: inhibition of the activity of adenylyl cyclase via CAMKII-dependent phosphorylation and down-regulation of the affinity of the CNG channel to cAMP.
(Olfactory Transduction Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)
The findings illustrate the remarkable adaptation capacity of the reef, which on five occasions bounced back from death events and adapted to sudden environmental variations.
(Major study reveals Great Barrier Reef’s 30,000-year fight for survival, University of Granada)
NEUROLOGY 1996;47: 129-139). (Questionnaires and all related subscales, translations, and adaptations ('FACIT System') are owned and copyrighted by David Cella, Ph.D. The ownership and copyright of the FACIT System resides strictly with Dr. Cella.
(Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
Live vaccines prepared from microorganisms which have undergone physical adaptation (e.g., by radiation or temperature conditioning) or serial passage in laboratory animal hosts or infected tissue/cell cultures, in order to produce avirulent mutant strains capable of inducing protective immunity.
(Attenuated Live Virus Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)
The second response pattern involved increased activation, and then decreased activation, of a circuit connecting brain areas involved in stress reaction and adaptation, perhaps as a means of reducing the initial distress to a perceived threat.
(Researchers identify brain circuits that help people cope with stress, NIH)
Weddell seals have biological adaptations that allow them to dive deep—as much as of hundreds of meters—while hunting, but also an uncanny ability to find the breathing holes they need on the surface of the ice.
(Antarctic seals may use Earth's magnetic field to navigate while hunting, NSF)
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