VocabauraVOCABAURA

specialist

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

An expert who is devoted to one occupation or branch of learning.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

spehshuhluhst

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈspɛʃələst

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An expert who is devoted to one occupation or branch of learning

  2. Someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research.

  3. medicine

    Practices one branch of medicine

  4. medicine

    A physician whose practice is limited to a particular branch of medicine or surgery.

  5. An organism that is specialized for a particular environment.

  6. A stenotopic species.

adjective

  1. british

    Specialised, involving detailed knowledge of a restricted topic.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An expert who is devoted to one occupation or branch of learning

Used this way, specialist is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use specialist

  • “We consulted a medical specialist about the rare condition.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “specialist”. We review each one before it appears.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “specialist” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.