Dictionary

specialise en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle English especial English special English -ise English specialise From special + -ise.

Meanings

1. (UK, alt-of, nonstandard) Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of specialize.
   alt of specialize
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • [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:
   • Firms... which have specialised in the manufacture of ‘heavies’... 1908 March 27, Pall Mall Gazette, 12/3:
   • 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:

Forms

Deriveds

specialisation · nonspecialising · overspecialise · specialiser · subspecialise