Dictionary

overadapt en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *h₂ptós Proto-Italic *aptos Latin aptus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Proto-Indo-European [Term?]der. Proto-Italic *apjō Latin apiō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus ▲ Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin aptō Latin adaptōder. Middle English *adapten English adapt English overadapt From over- + adapt.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To adapt excessively.
   • In some cases, there is the problem of wives choosing to overadapt or being asked to overadapt. Adapting that takes away individuality, personhood or self-worth is overadapting. Adapting that requires lockstep thinking is overadapting. 2006, Gil and Dana Stieglitz, Becoming a Godly Wife, page 64:
   • Apparently conscious of the need to achieve a good fit between Chaucer's text and extraneous materials, the scribe overadapted the poem to context by suppressing its generally springy first triplet, copying only those lines that refer to birdsong. 1996, Ralph Hanna, Pursuing History: Middle English Manuscripts and Their Texts, page 189:

Forms