specialty meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

specialty

noun

US /ˈspɛʃ.əl.ti/ · South-Asia /ˈspɛʃ.əl.ʈi/

Etymology From Middle English specialte, Old French specialte, especialte, from Latin specialitas.

Australia, Canada, US That in which one specializes; a chosen expertise or talent; bailiwick.

Near-synonym: discipline
medical specialty

4 more examples

academic specialty
They cook well overall, but their true specialty is pasta.
The doctor ordered a consultation with another doctor in a different specialty.
Even men of boundless knowledge, like Humboldt, must have had once their speciality, their pet subject, or they would have, strictly speaking, no knowledge at all.1858, Charles Kingsley, “My Winter-Garden”, in Fraser’s Magazine, volume 57, page 410:

Australia, Canada, US A product that originates in and is characteristic of a place.

regional specialty
house specialty

Australia, Canada, US, Obsolete Particularity.

The specialty of rule hath been neglected: And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

Australia, Canada, US A particular or peculiar case.

Australia, Canada, US An attribute or quality peculiar to a species.

Law Australia, Canada, US A contract or obligation under seal; a contract by deed; a writing, under seal, given as security for a debt particularly specified.

Let specialties be therefore drawne betweene vs, That couenants may be kept on either hand.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
1812, Joseph Chitty, A Treatise on Pleading, with a Collection of Practical Precedents, and Notes Thereon, 2nd American edition, edited by Thomas Day, New York, Volume 2, section 456, note c, […] in a plea to an action of debt on specialty, it is still necessary to show that the debt on which the judgment was recovered was a specialty, or to aver that the judgment was recovered before the defendant had notice of the plaintiff’s demand.

Derived terms: cross-specialty, interspecialty, multi-specialty, multispecialty, nonspecialty, specialty coffee, specialty crop, specialty shop, specialty store, sub-specialty
Related terms: specialist, subspecialty, subspecialist