specializationn.
/ˌspɛʃəlʌɪˈzeɪʃn/, /ˌspɛʃl̩ʌɪˈzeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌspɛʃələˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌspɛʃəˌlaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ 1. The action or process of making or becoming specialized.
a. In work, an industry, field of study, etc.
ΚΠ
1831 Q. Rev. July 441 The specialization more and more of particular banks, so that each should be confined to the superintendence, the protection and direction of a single branch of industry.
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation v. 273 The principle of the improvement which appears to me possible in our system of studies is that of specialisation.
1891 Lancet 3 Oct. 774 We are opposed to the specialisation of hospitals.
1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxiii. 416 Mechanical progress means more specialization and standardization of work.
1967 Listener 17 Aug. 213/2 Sixth-form specialisation is indeed producing diminishing returns.
2011 Nature 21 Apr. 261/1 Specialization has led to areas of research so narrow that they are of interest only to other people working in the same fields.
b. In language, ideas, legislation, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being special or restricted in application > [noun] > action or process of becoming specialized
specialization1841
specialty1863
1841 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 208/1 The several points of difference, that divide the Popish and the Protestant churches, are either specializations or generalizations, or modifications of these.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic II. iv. v. 270 We have seen above, in the words pagan and villain, remarkable examples of the specialization of the meaning of words.
1891 S. R. Driver Introd. Lit. Old Test. (1892) 26 A noticeable difference is the greater specialization and strictness of the provisions contained in the former narrative.
1911 E. H. Lewis Business Eng. xi. 83 Specialization of meaning is always going on, as one can see in such a word as mare.
2007 Lang. in Society 36 726 The contemporary specialization of ne as a prestige marker of careful speech.
2. Biology.
a. The process by which organisms, anatomical features, etc., take on a particular form or function in the course of evolutionary change or individual development, typically with the result that there is increased competence in one function at the expense of other functions; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > specialization
speciality1835
specialization1837
1837 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. 4 160 In watching the gradual specialization of the organs of nutrition.., we may observe that,..some means should be provided for the transmission of fluid.
1855 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. iii. x. 424 Change from a general diffusion of nutriment to a specialization of it, involves a further specialization.
1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life v. 75 The cause..is, undoubtedly, the extreme specialisation of most insects.
1916 F. W. Jones Arboreal Man 216 The particular arboreal specialization which culminated in the power of flight.
1947 A. D. Imms Outl. Entomol. (ed. 3) iv. 135 Specialization involves..the formation of a large discal cell in each wing by the absorption of intervening veins and cells.
2006 K. D. Rose Beginning Age Mammals v. 85/2 These genera show the first stages of carnivorous specialization.
b. A physiological character or feature having a particular form or function.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > specialization > specialized character or distinguishing feature
character1672
specialization1865
autapomorphy1959
1865 Clin. Lect. & Rep. (Med. & Surg. Staff London Hosp.) 2 328 The medulla and pons..are but specializations of the strands of fibres and masses of grey matter of the cord.
1918 F. W. Jones Probl. Man's Ancestry 30 Pithecoid specializations vary so much in their manifestations in the different groups of monkeys.
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) xlii. 393 They are fairly primitive animals, but show certain specialisations which rule them out from the main line of Primate evolution.
2007 L. M. Chiappe Glorified Dinosaurs vii. 199/1 The long and slender footbones of Lectavis brevipedalis point as specializations ideal for wading in waterlogged environments.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1831