acclimate

verb

ac·​cli·​mate ˈa-klə-ˌmāt 

ə-ˈklī-mət,

-ˌmāt 

acclimated; acclimating

transitive verb

: to adapt (someone) to a new temperature, altitude, climate, environment, or situation

They had to acclimate themselves to an urban lifestyle.

slowly becoming acclimated to a new environment

intransitive verb

: to adjust or adapt to a new temperature, climate, environment, or situation : to become acclimated

climbers gradually acclimating to the high altitude

Synonyms

• acclimatize
• accommodate
• adapt
• adjust
• condition
• conform
• doctor
• edit
• fashion
• fit
• put
• shape
• suit
• tailor

Examples of acclimate in a Sentence

I acclimated myself to the hot weather.

You might need to acclimate your plants to bright sunlight gradually.

We took a few days to get acclimated to our new teacher.

Recent Examples on the Web

The pair, who have been together for eight years, quickly acclimated to the new situation, and Keys won a tournament immediately after Fratangelo, 31, came on board. —Brendan Le, People.com, 30 Jan. 2025

That night, Edwards scored just 17 points on 16 shots, deferring to Randle, who was still acclimating to his new team after the trade. —Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 18 Jan. 2025

Each of the strays were confined to cages, which were progressively swapped out for smaller and smaller cages to acclimate them to the cramped conditions of the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. —Scott Travers, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025

His best strategy for coping with jet lag is to build in an extra day or two to acclimate to a new time zone. —Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French acclimater, from a-, prefix forming transitive verbs (going back to Latin ad- ad-) + climat "climate" (going back to Old French) — more at climate

First Known Use

1792, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

acclimate

verb

ac·​cli·​mate ˈak-lə-ˌmāt  ə-ˈklī-mət 

-ˌmāt

acclimated; acclimating

: to adapt to a new climate, environment, or situation

acclimation

ˌak-lə-ˈmā-shən

ˌak-ˌlī-

noun

Medical Definition

acclimate

verb

ac·​cli·​mate ˈak-lə-ˌmāt; ə-ˈklī-mət  -ˌmāt 

acclimated; acclimating

: acclimatize