specialization
Americannoun
-
the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work.
Medical students with high student loans often feel driven into specialization.
-
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.
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Cell Biology - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Cell Biology - High School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Not because I can’t do it, but because I value the expertise, perspective, and specialization that person brings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
Researchers say the species uses a powerful spring-loaded silk trap to capture a single type of prey, catching one ant at a time in what they describe as "the ultimate specialization."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
Pay can vary widely depending on specialization, setting and hours.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 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
It’s true that every writer must calibrate the degree of specialization in her language against her best guess of the audience’s familiarity with the topic.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
The population is too small to support many medical specializations, such as kidney transplants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 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
The new reconstruction of the skeleton also sheds light on specializations for head mobility in Tiktaalik and new details of the fish's pelvic fin anatomy.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2024
There is no evidence for such evolved specializations or weeding in gophers, Mueller says, nor even evidence that the root cropping is anything more than an accidental byproduct of gopher activity.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 11, 2022
If the baculum tended to retain its primitive character while specializations in the external anatomy developed, and if the above arrangement is correct the most primitive bacula would be found in Dicrostonyx and in Synaptomys.
From The Baculum in Microtine Rodents by Anderson, Sydney
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.
