special interest

English

Autistic art depicting a special interest (sense 3) in cats

Noun

special interest (plural special interests)

1. A particular political issue that is the focus of political advocacy.
2. A shadowy group with political power.
   • 1941, Citizen Kane:

     And they're going to get the news--the true news--quickly and simply and entertainingly. And no special interests will be allowed to interfere with the truth of that news.

   • 2014, Renee E. Fox, “Support science, not potato special interests”, in Baltimore Sun:

     Next week, the Senate Appropriations Committee will decide whether to allow special interests rather than science — to determine which foods can be provided through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

4. A particular highly focused interest of an autistic person.

   Synonyms: (slang) spin, spinterest

   I'm dating a boy called Nick whose special interest is video games; he won't stop talking about Pokémon.

5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see special,‎ interest.

Derived terms

• special interest group

Translations

political issue

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: særinteresse m

  Nynorsk: særinteresse f

• Swedish: särintresse (sv)

topic of particular interest and passion

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 特殊興趣／特殊兴趣 (tèshū xìngqù)

• Finnish: ekko (fi)
• French: intérêt spécifique (fr)

References

• “special interest”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.