Adoption
Pronunciation : A*dop"tion
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption.]
Definition : 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913