overspecialize

English

Alternative forms

• (UK) overspecialise

Etymology

From over- +‎ specialize.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌoʊvɚˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/
• Hyphenation: o‧ver‧spe‧cial‧ize

Verb

overspecialize (third-person singular simple present overspecializes, present participle overspecializing, simple past and past participle overspecialized)

1. To specialize to an excessive degree.
   • 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:

     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.

   • 1953 December, Robert Constant, “Overspecialization”, in The Michigan Technic‎^[1], volume LXXII, number 3, Ann Arbor, Mich.: College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1:

     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.

   • 1999 February 24, Louis Jacobson, “It's the play and the song that count”, in Princeton Alumni Weekly‎^[2]:

     Still, Winn is a savvy observer of intellectual politics, ably dissecting the economic and administrative incentives that encourage academics to overspecialize.