[f. SPECIAL a. + -ISM.]
1. Restriction or devotion to a special branch of study or research; limitation to one department or aspect of a subject.
1856. J. Grote, in Cambr. Ess., II. 88. The question of professionalism, or specialism, in education.
1876. Gladstone, Homeric Synchr., 212. This divarication into specialism … is a sign of an old … condition of study and practice.
1891. Lancet, 3 Oct., 773. This is the true remedy for the evils of specialism [in medicine].
2. With a and pl. A special study or investigation; an instance of specializing.
1868. Lancet, 8 Aug., 171. Medicine is a specialism; but of no narrow kind.
1884. Athenæum, 7 June, 720/2. Hence the book is one of specialisms. The specialisms, however, do not lapse into mere technicalities.
1891. Daily News, 9 April, 3/5. To do it, the work must be made a specialism.
