specialization
Americannoun
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specializations
plural
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of specialization
Explanation
If you have a specialization, that means you focus on a specific aspect of a larger topic. If you’re a nurse, your specialization might be pediatric care, which means you focus on providing care to infants and children. You probably notice that the word special makes up a big part of specialization, which can help you remember its meaning. Your specialization is your special subject or skill. If you’re planning on studying biology in college, your advisor eventually will ask what your area of specialization will be. When you graduate, you’ll know a lot about biology in general, but there’ll be a particular area — such as marine biology or rodent reproduction — that you studied deeply.
Vocabulary lists containing specialization
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Cell Biology - Middle School
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Cell Biology - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
“In general across the industry we are seeing some more specialization and we expect that to continue,” she says during a discussion with reporters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Not because I can’t do it, but because I value the expertise, perspective, and specialization that person brings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
They play a vital role in basic biological functions, including cell growth and specialization.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 2, 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
In those societies each household made what it needed; there was little or no economic specialization.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Novice CEOs rarely surround themselves with the right “load-bearing” people who have specializations and can take ownership of specific goals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
There’s still no definitive winner among AI models, Sette believes, and Anthropic’s product performs very well in specializations such as coding.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 11, 2025
"We think our work will be significant for several medical specializations, including cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, psychiatry, and psychological research," Krishna said.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
By comparing tongue movements in different species, researchers hope to learn how tongue specializations may have contributed to the evolution of each animal’s lifestyle and food preferences.
From Science Magazine ● May 24, 2023
The results of the ethnologists are so tangled here that one has to be cautious when one or another of them draws conclusions concerning immigrations, because of certain local or territorial specializations.
From The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes by Austin Craig
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.
