adaptiveadj.

1749 A. Hill Gideon (rev. ed.) iii. vi. 122 Patient, he waited some adaptive Chance, That might contribute Balm, her Wounds to heal.

1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 239 This higher species of Adaptive Power we call Instinct.

1856 J. Y. Simpson Obstetr. Mem. & Contrib. II. v. 110 A succession of reflex or excito-motory movements of an adaptive kind on the part of the fœtus.

1900 Publ. Amer. Econ. Assoc. 1 242 This lack of elasticity is..the result of inadequate administrative machinery in which proper adaptive elements might have been incorporated.

1957 P. Lafitte Person in Psychol. v. 58 Three modes of adaptive and eight modes of maladaptive behaviour that are used in response to frustration.

1986 Cultural Anthropol. 1 158 In human history, the paragenesis of expressive form with adaptive behavior is no less real and no less common.

2007 G. Davies Worrying about China v. 222 He produced innovative scholarship that reflected the..adaptive aspects of Confucian thought.

1839 Analyst 9 50 A remarkable illustration of this superficial similitude, induced by the correspondency of the adaptive modifications in reference to habit, such as occasions the Cetacea to assume the outside forms of fishes.

1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species xiv. 433 In comparing one group with a distinct group we summarily reject analogical or adaptive characters, and yet use these characters within the limits of the same group.

1878 Zool. Jrnl. Linn. Soc. 13 87 If the formula adaptive modification means that the Pterodactyles acquired by flight lungs similar to those of birds, it seems as though it were only another and less striking way of saying that reptiles are birds.

1920 Syst. Animate Nature II. 426 A life-history adaptive to particular conditions may be the result of selecting out suitable temporal variations.

1958 J. E. Morton Molluscs ii. 46 What is one to make in adaptive terms of the genus Opisthostoma, where a normal trochoid land shell abandons its coiling towards the end of the growth, and reverses so that the aperture is carried to the tip of the spire?

1986 R. Bakker Dinosaur Heresies (1988) iv. 75 No adaptive plan is perfect—neither warm-bloodedness nor cold-bloodedness, for example, works best all the time.

2002 S. J. Gould Struct. Evolutionary Theory v. 453 Goldschmidt held that new species arose saltationally, by a mode of genetic change different in kind from the alterations that yield adaptive modification within species.

1863 N. Brit. Daily Mail 9 Sept. 4/1 The eminently adaptive and practician character of the Americans goes far to supersede the necessity of tedious drill.

1875 R. W. Emerson Lett. & Social Aims iv. 114 Ah! what a plastic he is! so shifty, so adaptive!

1924 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 59 415 Isopod crustaceans have been found in thermal waters, perhaps not so surprising in an essentially marine group of highly adaptive animals.

1944 C. M. Tryon in Nat. Soc. Study Educ. Yearbk. (U.S.) i. xii. 233 In their relation to their own peer culture they must often be more adaptive.

1998 N.Y. Mag. 16 Mar. 74 Daly shows how adaptive human beings, not to mention fine actresses, can be.

2007 Science 3 Aug. 614/1 Mast cells..link the innate immune system, which deploys a standard set of defenses, with the adaptive immune system, which customizes the body's weapons to a specific attacker.

1953 G. E. Donovan Med. Electronics xxxvi. 206 Logical machines make only the choices that their designers have planned for them, but adaptive machines take ‘unpredictable’ courses, as human beings do.

1974 Guardian 13 Aug. 17/2 An adaptive autopilot facility constantly adapts the steering to cater for the ship's response to differing sea conditions.

1993 C. O. Nwagboso Automotive Sensory Syst. iv. 61 Advanced control applications include adaptive fuelling in which fuel delivery can be adjusted to correct for deficiencies in the fuelling system.

2002 M. Sipper Machine Nature iv. 81 The underlying goal is to render robots more adaptive, able to handle dynamic situations and real-world environments.

1944 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 44 1051/2 Along with his program of individual corrective exercises, adaptive sports, physical reconditioning, and active recreation, the modern [convalescent] G.I. also participates in an educational program.

1985 Los Angeles Times 5 Mar. v. 1/3 There are plenty of adaptive sports, but this [sc. skiing] may be the only one where disabled people can keep up with the able-bodied.

1991 Palaestra (Nexis) Summer 30 Adaptive rowing, for people who spend their waking hours in wheelchairs or on crutches, provides a respite.

2002 Disability Now Nov. 25/3 He competes in their adaptive snowboard division, but has also crossed over into competition with non-disabled boarders.

1956 Carroll (Iowa) Daily Times Herald 1 Sept. 8/6 (caption) Pictured before a medical display, which shows development and use of adaptive equipment in the total rehabilitation of handicapped persons.

1987 Washington Post 8 Aug. f1/2 The expense of building apartment units of ‘adaptive design’ for handicapped residents would unfairly burden owners and builders.

2002 India Today Internat. (U.K. Special ed.) 23 Sept. 41/4 Project Solace..has come out with a line of ‘adaptive assistive apparel’ for..the physically challenged.

2010 J. Small & S. Darcy in S. Cole & N. Morgan Tourism & Inequality i. 6/1 A significant area of consideration goes beyond adaptive equipment and environmental enablers to challenge disabling attitudes towards people with disabilities.