The phrase "adapting a term" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when discussing the process of modifying or changing a specific word or phrase to fit a new context or meaning.
Example: "In our research, we are adapting a term from linguistics to better describe the phenomenon we are studying."
Alternatives: "modifying a term" or "altering a term".
She calls the act of artistic vandalism "yarn bombing," adapting a term for plastering an area with graffiti tags.
Its most ambitious endeavor was a skyscraper that Nouvel (adapting a term from the artist Brancusi) called the "tour sans fins," or endless tower.
It takes what anthropologist Grant McCracken, adapting a term from the Protestant Reformation, calls "things indifferent" — differences that should not matter, that should not threaten social peace — and makes them polarizing issues.
This admittedly radical position might be called, to adapt a term from the world of tennis, the extreme Western gripe.
Which one of these groups an organisation falls into is dependent on its reputation elasticity of demand - to adapt a term from elementary economics - or the extent to which an improvement or deterioration in its reputation precipitates an increase or decrease in demand for its products or services.
Plantinga calls this the sensus divinitatis, using or perhaps adapting (Helm 1998)—a term of Calvin's.
To adapt a scientific term, here was the human version of allomothering -- caring for non-maternal offspring.
"The countries of the Region, therefore, are to adapt a long-term integrated strategic planning approach and a Road Map for the sustainable development of RSA, to achieve a healthier environment for a superior quality of life for all the people" (emphasis added, p. 29).
Recently, while performing a large-scale comparative analysis of stress-responsive genes (n = 3091) in Arabidopsis thaliana, 6 we realized this challenge and adapted a widely used GO term enrichment analysis tool (Ontologizer 2.0) to perform phenomic enrichment analyses using genes from STIFB2.
To identify novel targets for MARCH proteins we previously adapted a quantitative proteomics-based method termed stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) [24], [25] and monitored KSHV K5-dependent changes in the plasma membrane proteome [14].
Sports media, in particular, has adapted it as a term for what Tom Ley, the managing editor of Deadspin, calls "big lovable galoots".
