Dictionary

overspecialize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌoʊvɚˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/ (General-American)
• /ˌəʊvəˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- Middle English especial English special Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English specialize English overspecialize From over- + specialize.

Meanings

1. To specialize to an excessive degree.
   • The greatest of benefits to be derived from a purposeful college education are an active and lasting intellectual curiosity—a pervading spirit of inquiry—and the ability to think. To attain these goals the student should direct his education in a broad field of study rather than overspecialize in a single subject. 1953 December, Robert Constant, “Overspecialization”, in The Michigan Technic, volume LXXII, number 3, Ann Arbor, Mich.: College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1:
   • Still, Winn is a savvy observer of intellectual politics, ably dissecting the economic and administrative incentives that encourage academics to overspecialize. 1999 February 24, Louis Jacobson, “It's the play and the song that count”, in Princeton Alumni Weekly:
   • The tendency to overspecialize is also noticeable in the county. Some farmers are growing fruit to the exclusion of all other crops; some carry the practice a step further and grow only peaches. 1915, E. H. Anderson, “Niagara County: An Account of Its Agriculture and of Its Farm Bureau”, in Twenty-eighth Annual Report of the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University and of the Agricultural Experiment Station, volume II, Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, published 1916, page 2093:

Forms

Deriveds

overspecialization