to adopt a dog
3
2.3
- phrasal verb
- /əˈdɑpt ə dɔɡ/
- If you have a place where the dog can live and be healthy, adopt a dog.
- adopt a dog from a shelter
- adopt a dog or cat
- wants to adopt a dog
Examples
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Beware the high cost of ownership when adopting a dog or puppy.
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We adopted a dog yesterday that I found on Petfinder.com.
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Why do you want to adopt a dog?
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Um, I want to adopt a dog.
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Always adopt a dog if you are just looking for a pet. Why buy when so many need homes?
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So if you're looking to adopt a dog, consider these two.
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As luck would have it, she located a couple in Seward who were looking to adopt a dog like him.
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Twenty-some years ago, we adopted a dog, Taurus, who was VERY smart but VERY destructive in the house if left alone.
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Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Month is a month to bring awareness to the general public about getting them to think of going to their local shelter to adopt a dog.
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Sharon and Dave McDonald of Norfolk recently adopted a dog from the SPCA.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to take a dog into one's home as a pet' is directly derivable from combining 'adopt' (to take into one's family) with 'dog' — the composition is literal and follows normal argument structure. Although learners may initially associate 'adopt' with children, the extension to animals is common across languages and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should understand it.
Etymology
Adopt a dog comes from the same idea as adopting a child: to choose someone and make them part of your family. When animal shelters began placing dogs into new homes, people used adopt for dogs too, so adopt a dog means 'to take a dog into your home and care for it'.