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ct or process of adapting, or fitting; or the state of being adapted or fitted; fitness. "Adaptation of the means to the end." Erskine.

Mutual adaption. R. Owen.

Want of adaptation; unsuitableness.

The act of fitting or adapting, or the state of being fitted or adapted; adaptation; adjustment; -- followed by to. "The organization of the body with accommodation to its functions." Sir M. Hale.

Adaptation. Cheyne.

Suited, given, or tending, to adaptation; characterized by adaptation; capable of adapting. Coleridge. -- A*dapt"ive*ly, adv.

A general fitness or suitableness; adaptation. That sociable and helpful aptitude which God implanted between man and woman. Milton.

Adductive as proof; indicative; as, the adaptation of things to their uses is argumentative of infinite wisdom in the Creator. [Obs.]

The adaptation of a composition to voices or instruments for which it was not originally written.

The employment of means to accomplish some desired end; the adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life; the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes. Blest with each grace of nature and of art. Pope.

To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end; as, to calculate a system of laws for the government and protection of a free people. [Religion] is . . . calculated for our benefit. Abp. Tillotson.

To adjust by mutual adaptations. R. Owen.

The adaptation or adjustment of parts to each other, as of a broken bone or dislocated joint.

struct by mental labor; to design and execute, or put together, in a manner involving the adaptation of forms of expression to ideas, or to the laws of harmony or proportion; as, to compose a sentence, a sermon, a symphony, or a picture. Let me compose Something in verse as well as prose. Pope. The genius that composed…

Internal harmony or fitness; mutual adaptation of parts; elegance; -- used chiefly of style of discourse. [R.] An exact concinnity and eveness of fancy. Howell.

The state or quality of being congenial; natural affinity; adaptation; suitableness. Sir J. Reynolds. If congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. Motley.

The state or quality of being congenial; natural affinity; adaptation; suitableness. Sir J. Reynolds.

Junction; adaptation [R.] Consertion of design, how exquisite. Young.

Mutual adaptation, relation, or agreement, of one thing to another; agreement; congruity; fitness; relation.

Specifically, intention or purpose as revealed or inferred from the adaptation of means to an end; as, the argument from design.