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adoptively

adoptively

5.6
In a way that connects someone to a family that is not their birth family
  • adverb
  • /əˈdɑːptɪvli/
: adoptivamente
  • The children in the support group shared their experiences of being raised adoptively.

Examples

  • Jannsen introduced her story as "about our family and how it was supposed to be," and these stories evidently justify the togetherness of an adoptively constituted family.

    Academic text (2017)
  • They formed a close bond, acting as if they were adoptively siblings growing up together.

  • She loves her adoptively parents just as much as her biological ones.

Surface Forms

adoptively positive

Morphology

adoptively = adoptive (transparent) = adopt + ive + ly

The adverb is straightforwardly formed from the adjective 'adoptive' by adding '-ly' and retains the expected meaning relating to adoption.

Etymology

Adoptively comes from ad- ('to') and opt ('choose'), the same idea you see in adopt and option, so it means 'take or choose as your own'. That's why being part of a family 'adoptively' means you were 'chosen into' that family.