specialise
part of speech
verb (specialise, specialises, specialised, specialising; US: specialize)
meaning for a pupil
1) To specialise is to study or work mainly on one subject or skill and become an expert in it: she specialises in heart surgery. tree →
2) A shop or business that specialises in something mainly sells or does that one thing. tree →
sense in the lessons
Everyday life and jobs: doctors specialise (a vet might specialise in horses); shops specialise in shoes or comics. Science: cells specialise, which means they become a special type (nerve cells, muscle cells) to do one job. Phrase: «specialise in».
examples
- My aunt is a doctor who specialises in children's illnesses. tree →
- This shop specialises in Lego. tree →
- Later at university you can specialise in maths. tree →
- Some cells specialise to carry oxygen. tree →
- The team specialises in rescues on mountains. tree →
- He wants to specialise in dinosaur bones. tree →
note
UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland: specialise; USA and often Canada: specialize. Always «specialise in», not «specialise on». Noun: specialist, specialism; specialisation.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «specialise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.