adjust

Definition

To modify.

Etymology

From Middle English ajusten, borrowed from Middle French adjuster, or Old French, from Latin ad (“to, up to, towards”) + iustus (“correct, proper, exact”); Equivalent to ad- + just. Probably influenced in sense by Old French ajouster (cf. modern ajouter), from Vulgar Latin *adiuxtāre, from Latin iuxta. The Middle English originally meant "to correct, remedy" in the late 14th century, and was reborrowed from Middle French in the early 17th century. According to another view on the etymology, the word was actually derived from Old French ajouster and then supposedly later influenced by folk etymology from Latin iustus; if so, it is a doublet of adjute.

Example Sentences

• "Morimoto's recipes are adjusted to suit the American palate."
• "As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one."
• "He adjusted his initial conclusion to reflect the new data."