overspecialize
Syllables: o·ver·spe·cial·izeUK/ˌəʊvəˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/US/ˌoʊvɚˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/
overspecialize verb: to specialize to an excessive degree.
Verb
overspecialize (third-person singular simple present overspecializes, present participle overspecializing, simple past and past participle overspecialized)
- To specialize to an excessive degree.
- 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 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...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...
Examples of overspecialize in a sentence
- 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...
- 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:
Forms of overspecialize
| third-person singular present | overspecializes |
|---|---|
| present participle | overspecializing |
| past participle | overspecialized |
| past | overspecialized |
| alternative form | overspecialise |
Origin of overspecialize
From over- + specialize.
Words formed from overspecialize
Questions about overspecialize
- What does overspecialize mean?
- Overspecialize means to specialize to an excessive degree.
- How do you use overspecialize in a sentence?
- To attain these goals the student should direct his education in a broad field of study rather than overspecialize in a single subject.
- What part of speech is overspecialize?
- Overspecialize is a verb.
- How do you pronounce overspecialize?
- Overspecialize is pronounced /ˌəʊvəˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of overspecialize?
- The past tense of overspecialize is overspecialized.
Words near overspecialize in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overspecialize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “overspecialize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overspecialize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.