specialist
Americannoun
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specialists
plural
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a person who is devoted to one subject or to one particular branch of a subject or pursuit.
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a medical practitioner who devotes attention to a particular class of diseases, patients, etc.
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U.S. Army. an enlisted person of one of four grades having technical or administrative duties, the grades corresponding to those of corporal through sergeant first class but not requiring the exercise of command.
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Stock Exchange. a member of an exchange who buys and sells a single stock or a particular group of stocks in their own name or for other stockbrokers and thus helps maintain the market in those securities on that exchange.
noun
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a person who specializes in or devotes himself to a particular area of activity, field of research, etc
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( as modifier )
specialist knowledge
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an enlisted rank in the US Army denoting technical qualifications that entitle the holder to a noncommissioned officer's pay
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ecology an organism that has special nutritional requirements and lives in a restricted habitat that provides these Compare generalist
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of specialist
Explanation
A specialist has an area of expertise in a profession or branch of learning. Call an ear, nose, and throat specialist if you can’t shake a stuffy nose, but go to a Shakespeare specialist to learn about King Lear. Specialist started off as a word used just for doctors who focused particular diseases or parts of the body, but now a specialist can be someone with a narrow focus in any field. A specialist is any professional with a specialty — lawyers are specialists because each lawyer deals with a specific kind of legal work. To be a specialist you have to study or get experience in a specific field for a long time.
Vocabulary lists containing specialist
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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National Nurses Week: Hospital People and Places
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Things Not Seen
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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:
Glenn Cabasso, a medical-records specialist at Bellevue Hospital and a member of food groups across the city, found Tastebuds earlier this year and was struck by the pair’s authenticity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
"He is a good natural communicator," the BBC politics specialist Laura Kuenssberg told an in-house podcast.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Tarling was the younger brother of Josh, a time trial specialist for British super team Netcompany Ineos, who has won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and a European Time Trial title.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
A confluence of factors has made water temperatures in the area unusually warm, said University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography shark specialist Brendan Talwar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
If the sign on the front door hadn’t already, Luce’s office made it clear just what kind of specialist my parents had brought me to see.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Shanghai-based, Neil Yan is a researcher of market trends for consumer and sensory specialists, MMR.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Despite the significant efforts from specialists to administer care, medical treatment and extensive testing, veterinarians did not identify one definitive cause for her poor condition,” the center said on its website.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
The shortage has prompted eye specialists to warn people against buying uncertified alternatives.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
The Defense Department has an office staffed with bankers and other specialists dedicated to funneling the money to the right projects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The colonel dwelt in a vortex of specialists who were still specializing in trying to determine what was troubling him.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
