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What does adoptive mean?

Adoptive means related by adoption—the process of taking another parent’s child into one’s custody, typically in a formal legal way, in order to permanently act as their parent or guardian. To do so is to adopt.A person’s adoptive family is the one they were adopted into. The word can also be applied to specific family members related by adoption, as in adoptive father and adoptive daughter. However, adoptive is most commonly used for parents, while the adjective adopted is more commonly applied to a child who has been adopted, as in Their adopted daughter is the newest addition to the family. Adoption most commonly involves an adult couple or a single adult adopting and raising a child who is no longer in the custody of either of their birth parents (biological parents), such as in cases where they have died or are otherwise unable to care for the child. More generally, adoptive can be used to describe things involving adoption.The word adopt is also used in more general ways. It can mean to choose or take as one's own (such as to adopt a new tradition) or to accept something or vote to approve it (such as to adopt a plan or law). Adoptive can also mean tending to adopt in these ways, but this sense is not very commonly used.Example: I consider my adoptive family my real family, but I still want to have a relationship with my birth parents.