specialise

S1P3E1C3I1A1L1I1S1E1

A form of specialize — To go into specific details.

Opposite
Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

verbspecialise (third-person singular simple present specialises, present participle specialising, simple past and past participle specialised)

present singular third person specialises · participle present specialising · participle past specialised · past specialised

  1. UKnonstandardNon-Oxford British English standard spelling of specialize.

    Firms... which have specialised in the manufacture of ‘heavies’...

    1908 March 27, Pall Mall Gazette, 12/3
    5 more examples

    Our Sauiour specialising and nominating the places in which these false prophets should teach his presence to be.

    1616, Richard Sheldon, A Survey of the Miracles of the Church of Rome, Proving Them to be Antichristian, section 261

    Some centres specialise in timber, and those conveniently situated to the coalfields deal with large quantities of pit props.

    1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9

    Jim is a nurseryman, specialising in clematis, and he has built up a business exporting 150 varieties to countries all over the world.

    1980, Robert Dougall, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 379

    [Oily Cart] specialises in creating spectacular productions for young people with complex disabilities.

    2012 December 26, Patrick Butler and Abby Young-Powell, “Oily Cart company specialises in theatre for youngsters with complex disabilities”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2022

    We now have good reason to question the pursuits of the vaunted innovators with whom Liu consorted in California – the blissed-out cultists at Google, whose only worry is over “the wrong kind of sparkling water in the microkitchens”, or the manic experts who specialise in “envisioning hyperplanes in n-dimensional space”.

    2020 April 7, Peter Conrad, “Abolish Silicon Valley by Wendy Liu review – rebooting our reality”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2025

Synonyms & antonyms

verbdevote oneself to a special area of work

Similar
Broader

verbsuit to a special purpose

Similar
Broader

verbbecome more focused on an area of activity or field of study

Opposite

verbevolve so as to lead to a new species or develop in a way most suited to the environment

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishespecial
  2. Englishspecial
  3. Englishspecialise

From special + -ise.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

specialise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/specialise

MLA

“specialise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/specialise. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “specialise,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/specialise.

Source: specialise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.