special interest
Americannoun
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a political or economic stake in something.
Japan had a special interest in the South China Sea.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of special interest
An Americanism dating back to 1785–90
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.
"There can be a breakdown of communication," Dr Pippa Bowes, an urgent care doctor in Southampton with a special interest in acute dermatology, explains.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
It may all also be of special interest to the millions more who are over 50, or 55, and who are thinking of retiring — or hoping to — in the reasonably near future.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026
Benefit Street focuses on deals involving U.S.-based commercial and multifamily residential assets, with a special interest in locations in low- or no-tax states such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
He took a special interest in me, and he always played Thelonious Monk, Joe Sample from the Crusaders, and he would refer to them, and Miles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
Professor Brown and Professor Green, along with a handful of other people on the faculty who had taken a special interest in me, and then the list kind of sputtered to a stop.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
