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Adopt vs Decide - What's the difference?

adopt | decide |

As verbs the difference between adopt and decide

is that adopt is (with relationship specified) to take by choice into relationship, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc while decide is .

adopt

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (with relationship specified) To take by choice into relationship, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.
  • (with relationship implied by context) To take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.
  • A friend of mine recently adopted a Chinese baby girl found on the streets of Beijing.
  • (with relationship implied by context) To obtain (a pet) from a shelter or the wild.
  • We're going to adopt a Dalmatian.
  • (with relationship implied by context) To take by choice into the scope of one's responsibility.
  • This supermarket chain adopts several families every Yuletide, providing them with money and groceries for the holidays.
  • To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally.(rfex)
  • * '>citation
  • To select and take or approve.
  • to adopt the view or policy of another
    These resolutions were adopted .

    decide

    English

    Verb

    (decid)
  • To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
  • The election will be decided on foreign policies.
    We must decide our next move.
    Her last-minute goal decided the game.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
  • To make a judgment, especially after deliberation.
  • You must decide between good and evil.
    I have decided that it is healthier to walk to work.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xx. 40
  • So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
  • To cause someone to come to a decision.
  • * 1920 , , "The Adventure of the Three Gables" (Norton edition, 2005, p. 1537),
  • It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.
  • (obsolete) To cut off; to separate.
  • * Fuller
  • Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * make up one's mind * choose * determine * pick