adopted
Taken into family
Adopted describes someone or something taken as one's own.
An adopted child has been legally made part of a family not biologically their own: She was adopted at age three.
The word extends to anything chosen rather than inherited: an adopted country, an adopted name.
To call a hometown one's adopted city suggests chosen belonging rather than native roots.
State of being related
- relativesThose connected by blood
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- lineageDescent from progenitors
parentage · bloodline · genealogy · filiation · orphan · placement · reunification · birthparent
Chosen item or items
- preferenceFavored choice among alternatives
- voluntaryDone by choice
- optedChose voluntarily
- decidedReached a conclusion
picked · selected · embraced · accepted · approved · handpicked · elect · designated
Absorbed into a whole
- incorporatedLegally formed as company
- blendedMixed into uniformity
- absorbedTook in fully
- welcomedReceived with pleasure
belonging · identity · adjustment · attachment · bonding · transition · acclimation · acceptance
Attending to dependents
- upbringingChildhood care and training
- fosteringPromoting development or growth
- rearingNurturing to maturity
- parentingNurturing and guiding children
affection · guidance · support · protection · development · love · tenderness · custody
kinship
State of being related
lineage · parentage · bloodline · genealogy · filiation · orphan · placement · reunification · birthparent · guardianship
selection
Chosen item or items
- preferenceFavored choice among alternatives
- voluntaryDone by choice
- optedChose voluntarily
decided · picked · selected · embraced · accepted · approved · handpicked · elect · designated · chosen
assimilated
Absorbed into a whole
- incorporatedLegally formed as company
- blendedMixed into uniformity
- absorbedTook in fully
welcomed · belonging · identity · adjustment · attachment · bonding · transition · acclimation · acceptance · cultural
caregiving
Attending to dependents
- upbringingChildhood care and training
- fosteringPromoting development or growth
- rearingNurturing to maturity
parenting · affection · guidance · support · protection · development · love · tenderness · custody · provision
- parenthoodbaby, newborn, pregnancy, birth, childbirth
- took onassumed, undertook, undertaken, tackled, shouldered
- redemptionredemption arc, redeemed, forgiven, saved, moral redemption
- birth orderfirstborn, lastborn, middle child, only child, eldest
- birthlive birth, stillbirth, premature birth, breech birth, multiple birth
- legitimacylegal, validity, legitimate, lawfulness, lawful
adoptedbiological
Relating to living organisms
natural · birth · genetic · nonadopted · unadopted
- early adopterFirst purchaser of innovations
- adoptive parentsLegal non-birth guardians
- pet adoptionAcquiring a homeless animal
- adoptive fatherMan who legally becomes parent
- adopted childMinor placed with new parents
- adopted sonNon-biological male child legally claimed
adopt, adoption, adopting, adopts, adoptions, adoptive, adopter, adoptee, readopt