Both Uses of
adapt
in
The Great Gatsby
- I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all — Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.
p. 176..4 *unadaptable = not able to adjuststandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unadaptable means not and reverses the meaning of adaptable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- He was walking ahead of me along Fifth Avenue in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a little from his body as if to fight off interference, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless eyes.
p. 178..1adapting = adjusting (changing for something else)
Definition:
-
(adapt as in: adapted to the new rules) changed to fit a different situation; or made suitable