specialization
Americannoun
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the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work.
Medical students with high student loans often feel driven into specialization.
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Biology. the adaptation of an organism or organ to a special function or environment.
Basic biology suggests the selective pressures leading to convergent evolutionary specialization among desert-dwelling species.
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the act of being restricted to some specific, or the act of becoming specialized.
Other Word Forms
- despecialization noun
- nonspecialization noun
- subspecialization noun
- superspecialization noun
Etymology
Origin of specialization
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They play a vital role in basic biological functions, including cell growth and specialization.
From Science Daily • Mar. 2, 2026
It prevents true specialization, limits the impact of technology, and produces backlogs we should not sustain,” Sriubus wrote in a memo, according to the Federal News Network report.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 20, 2026
They realized their kids would have an advantage if they had a specialization they enjoyed, said Bouquillon, the now-retired superintendent.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025
With that specialization also came espresso beverages—the flat whites, cappuccinos, and Americanos that now make up the baseline menu for most coffee shops.
From Slate • Dec. 22, 2025
Who knows, we might even acknowledge the fragility and vulnerability that always accompany high specialization in biology, and movements might start up for the protection of ourselves as a valuable, endangered species.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
