Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Adoption \A*dop"tion\, n. [L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to
   adopt: cf. F. adoption.]
   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 : WordNet®

adoption
     n 1: the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception;
          "its adoption by society"; "the proposal found wide
          acceptance" [syn: {acceptance}, {acceptation}, {espousal}]
     2: a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation
        between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is
        entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of
        the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit)
     3: the appropriation (of ideas or words etc) from another
        source; "the borrowing of ancient motifs was very
        apparent" [syn: {borrowing}]