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

According to the specialized site TankerTrackers, the ship was en route to Venezuela but not carrying cargo.

From Barron's

Given that specialized AI systems can produce gold-medal answers to International Math Olympiad questions, calculating taxes should be no big deal.

From The Wall Street Journal

At one weekend session, “Evolving RL-Based Reasoning Data in LLMs,” a startup founder who specialized in that esoteric area of research asked a reporter why they were at such a boring talk.

From The Wall Street Journal

While the heart surgery was underway, the donor liver was maintained on a TransMedics Organ Care System -- a specialized device designed to replicate normal liver function.

From Science Daily

Lewis was intubated and needed a specialized procedure across the state to survive.

From The Wall Street Journal