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What is "specialize"

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specialize
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
specialize
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a restaurant specializes in sth
▪ Restaurants near the waterfront tend to specialize in seafood.
technical/specialized vocabulary
▪ The instructions were full of technical vocabulary.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
highly
▪ Essentially, each code word is a separate, highly specialized entity.
▪ In large organizations, their duties may be highly specialized.
▪ Jochen Schleese might be described as a highly specialized custom tailor.
in
▪ Some market research companies specialize in providing audits of the trends in sales of particular product types across all manufacturers.
▪ Now, they specialize in one-liners.
▪ Some cost estimators now specialize in only estimating computer software development and related costs.
more
▪ Although there is little agreement about their role, they seem to have had slightly more specialized duties.
▪ Only a third of the curriculum is devoted to more specialized training for specific occupations or companies.
▪ Amongst the term's more specialized medieval uses, however, is a sense that it shares with its Latin ancestor fabula.
▪ The two hemispheres of the brain become more different and more specialized in boys.
▪ Such as: If your needs are more specialized try a search engine, or scan Deja.com for an appropriate newsgroup.
▪ That automatically takes it out of the realm of a mass-market film to something more specialized.
▪ Their members were more specialized: a growing proportion of them had no medical background.
▪ In especially difficult or puzzling cases, a more specialized evaluation may be conducted by an occupational or physical therapist.
■ NOUN
agency
▪ He had wanted the Agency to specialize in political cases.
▪ Y., travel agency specializing in cruises.
▪ Private agencies generally specialize in clerical and secretarial work and may want to test your speeds, so be prepared for this.
▪ The new agency will specialize in online advertising, which Goodby refuses to do.
area
▪ However, several may be assigned to large, complex projects, particularly because inspectors specialize in different areas of construction.
▪ Many administrators develop great expertise within their specialized areas.
business
▪ Some of the more robust products offer specialized services for businesses, such as direct payroll deposit and cash concentration.
▪ The increasingly specialized worlds of business, medicine, politics and technology are fueling the explosion of abbreviations.
company
▪ But the company, which specialized in minicomputers, failed to capitalize on the switch to personal computers.
▪ Some market research companies specialize in providing audits of the trends in sales of particular product types across all manufacturers.
▪ All its scientific equipment is leased from a venture company that specializes in providing such equipment.
▪ To keep track of all the various product lines, companies structured according to specialized functions.
▪ There are private companies who specialize in these services and who, incidentally, also have dedicated people working for them.
▪ The company specializes in office furniture, according to owner Sandy Norby.
computer
▪ In a few years it will be clearer whether specialized network computers really do offer any other advantages.
▪ Students are studying with the help of specialized computer reading programs.
▪ A variety of area computer stores specialize in refitting older computers with new components.
▪ Some cost estimators now specialize in only estimating computer software development and related costs.
firm
▪ Co. investment firm specializes in vulture investing.
▪ One reason Smith Barney trails in sales is that the firm has long specialized in selling stocks, not taxable bonds.
▪ The firm specializes in technology companies, which have poured into the market this year.
▪ After interviewing numerous consultants, the glass company selected a firm that specialized in systematic performance improvement.
▪ The firm specializes in real estate, banking, financial and other services.
law
▪ Most applicants are represented by a barrister or solicitor specializing in transport law.
▪ The United States sees intellectual property rights as sacred, said Thomas Klitgaard, an attorney specializing in international law.
▪ None of the committee members in these crucial years specialized in criminal law or family law.
lawyer
▪ Dan Mulligan, a San Francisco lawyer who specializes in handling lending and foreclosure cases, agreed that homeowners shared responsibility.
▪ Many lawyers who specialize in estate planning say they are aware of the filing procedure but seldom use it.
service
▪ There are private companies who specialize in these services and who, incidentally, also have dedicated people working for them.
▪ Some of the more robust products offer specialized services for businesses, such as direct payroll deposit and cash concentration.
▪ Some specialize in specific financial services.
▪ The corporation provides travel agents with specialized services that can be configured according to the needs of the marketplace or the customer.
▪ MasterWord specializes in providing services on call, 24 hours a day, in 40 languages.
▪ Generally, a contractor is the firm under contract to provide specialized construction services.
■ VERB
become
▪ Today, as activism becomes more and more specialized, the danger is of connections disappearing.
▪ As Trantor becomes more specialized, it becomes more vulnerable, less able to defend itself.
▪ Each tends to become specialized and is not readily integrated with the others.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Civil servants are non-political, anonymous, discreet and specialize in a particular sphere of public business.
▪ He had wanted the Agency to specialize in political cases.
▪ Hollington Architects Inc., specializes in institutional design, such as schools and churches.
▪ Later he specialized in war photography for magazines such as Life, Time, and Newsweek, winning a number of awards.
▪ They specialize in providing branch banking facilities to individuals.
▪ They specialize in the big picture and are no good at details.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Specialize

Specialize \Spe"cial*ize\, v. t.

  1. To mention specially; to particularize.

  2. To apply to some specialty or limited object; to assign to a specific use; as, specialized knowledge.

  3. (Biol.) To supply with an organ or organs having a special function or functions.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
specialize

1610s, "to indicate specially," from special (adj.) + -ize, perhaps on model of French spécialiser. Sense of "engage in a special study or line of business" is first attested 1881; biological sense is from 1851. Related: Specialized; specializing.

Wiktionary
specialize

alt. 1 To mention specially; to particularize. 2 To apply to some specialty or limited object; to assign to a specific use; as, specialized knowledge. 3 (context biology English) To supply with an organ or organs having a special function or functions. vb. 1 To mention specially; to particularize. 2 To apply to some specialty or limited object; to assign to a specific use; as, specialized knowledge. 3 (context biology English) To supply with an organ or organs having a special function or functions.

WordNet
specialize

  1. v. become more special; "We specialize in dried flowers" [syn: specialise, narrow, narrow down] [ant: diversify, diversify]

  2. be specific about; "Could you please specify your criticism of my paper?" [syn: specify, particularize, particularise, specialise] [ant: generalize]

  3. suit to a special purpose; "specialize one's research" [syn: specialise]

  4. devote oneself to a special area of work; "She specializes in honey bees"; "This plumber specialized in jacuzzis" [syn: specialise]

  5. evolve so as to lead to a new species or develop in a way most suited to the environment [syn: speciate, differentiate, specialise]

Usage examples of "specialize".

If Aikido can be said to specialize, it is in arm and wrist locks, finger holds and arm throws, but the man surely recognized a good leglock too.

Specialized procedures such as celiac angiography could not be done, and further work on the patient was postponed until Monday.

The tentacles of the ichthyoid were specialized for large-scale manipulation, those of the arachnoid for minute work.

These now were rare books, early editions, and bibliographical curiosities in which the Archdeacon took a definite and even specialized interest.

Wilma was an asthenic blonde who specialized in decorative plant-animal hybrids.

His specialized internal biota seem more closely related to the kinds of organisms one would be likely to encounter in the vicinity of the equator.

Patricia specialized in, except on rare occasions when she and Pinky got into a boogaloo frame of mind.

D-1- Cooch, a Canadian government ornithologist who specialized in on-site Arctic studies.

Cinerea, her cuz who specialized in Mental-Emotional Healing, sitting on a twoseat and sipping cinnamoncaff from a tiny cup painted with sprays of heather and rimmed in gold.

He was a roof runner, a burglar specializing in the upper stories of the rich and careless, and mostly he worked on breaking and entering jobs set up by Cyder, who also acted as his fence.

Tritylodonts were highly specialized cynodonts with molar-like cheek teeth showing multiple roots as in mammals.

And Mary, by that definition, was a specialized sort of chemist, focusing on deoxyribonucleic acid.

After returning to America, his father taught history at City College of New York, specializing in Iberia and its colonies, and Diffie had grown up immersed in the academic, left-wing politics of New York City in the fifties and early sixties.

They all seemed to be based on the design of the type he had first met, with that chunky dodecahedral body, limbs sprouting in a variety of configurations, apparently specialized.

As expected, the basic floor plan matched the other schools a main dojo to my right, a smaller one lined with specialized training equipment to my left.