specialized

American  

[spesh-uh-lahyzd] / ˈspɛʃ əˌlaɪzd /

especially British, specialised

adjective

1. invested with a special character or restricted to a special function or field of activity.

   He campaigned for a specialized burn department to be established at the hospital.

   The humanities, once a highly specialized pursuit, have rapidly become a much broader conversation.

2. Biology. (of an organism or organ) adapted to a special function or environment.

   If the coastal sage scrub were to vanish, so would these specialized species of insects that are dependent on it.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of specialize.

Other Word Forms

• nonspecialized adjective
• overspecialized adjective
• unspecialized adjective

Etymology

Origin of specialized

specialize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

More recently, the rover collected a fourth sample for a specialized analysis reserved for particularly interesting targets.

From Science Daily

But another problem is that strategic reserves take longer to unlock than commercial stocks, especially if they are in specialized storage facilities.

From The Wall Street Journal

A thrifty sort, then—he acts as his own camera operator and prefers hardware-store lightbulbs to specialized equipment—and one gracious in acknowledging his co-workers of many years.

From The Wall Street Journal

Instead, they travel along environmental and host surfaces using a specialized machine known as the type 9 secretion system, or T9SS.

From Science Daily

"But HLE reminds us that intelligence isn't just about pattern recognition -- it's about depth, context and specialized expertise."

From Science Daily