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
- 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
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
This specialization and the trade that sustains it will enhance efficiency and fuel economic growth in those trading nations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025
The store had a chess collection—at prices lower than Buschke’s—combined with a specialization in Caribbean and radical literature.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
![]()
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.