Decentralize

//diːˈsɛntɹəlaɪz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause to change from being concentrated at one point or site to being distributed across several. transitive

    "decentralize operations"

  2. 2
    make less central wordnet
  3. 3
    To reduce the authority of (a governing body) by distributing that authority among several bodies. transitive

    "decentralize authority"

  4. 4
    To become decentralized. intransitive
  5. 5
    To bring (a suspect) to the ground by use of directed force; to tackle. US

Synonyms

All synonyms
decentralisedeconcentrate

Example

More examples

"Effective public policy is not a simple matter of centralize or decentralize, subsidize or privatize, regulate or deregulate."

Etymology

From de- + centralize.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.