decentralize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
decentralizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decentralized,
past participle, past
-
decentralizing
present participle
-
to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a central authority) over a less concentrated area.
to decentralize the national government.
-
to disperse (something) from an area of concentration.
to decentralize the nation's industry.
verb (used without object)
-
decentralizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decentralized,
past participle, past
-
decentralizing
present participle
verb
-
to reorganize (a government, industry, etc) into smaller more autonomous units
-
to disperse (a concentration, as of industry or population)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
decentralizesimple
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decentralizessimple
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have decentralizedperfect
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has decentralizedperfect
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am decentralizingprogressive
-
are decentralizingprogressive
-
is decentralizingprogressive
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have been decentralizingperfect progressive
-
has been decentralizingperfect progressive
Past
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decentralizedsimple
-
had decentralizedperfect
-
was decentralizingprogressive
-
were decentralizingprogressive
-
had been decentralizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decentralize
First recorded in 1850–55; de- + centralize
Explanation
To decentralize is to move control from one big organization to several smaller ones. A bookstore chain might decentralize by shifting from one main buyer purchasing books for all the stores to individual store buyers making those purchases. In government, the term decentralize is used when authority moves away from federal control to the state — or from the state to a local level. Your state, for example, might decentralize laws about stores using plastic bags by allowing each city or town to make its own rules. In business, a company decentralizes when it gives more control to individual locations (like the freedom to hire workers and make rules), rather than making these decisions for them.
Vocabulary lists containing decentralize
Western Europe - Introductory
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Western Europe - Middle School and High School
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: de-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ command and control over its components is uncertain, due in part to Iran’s longstanding defensive strategy to decentralize authority, which it executed at the war’s outset.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
I believe that was the reason: an attempt to decentralize the media and kind of break it down.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2025
Meanwhile, Zaragoza has promised to prioritize climate change and renewable energy, decentralize the island’s education department and improve access to health.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
But Valderrama Blanco says Gálvez Ruiz will decentralize science policy and give more authority over science funding to Mexico’s state governments, an approach discouraged by the current law.
From Science Magazine ● May 2, 2024
Such action would further decentralize our credit structure.
From State of the Union Address by Herbert Hoover
The draft is expected to be the first sporting event to be held at The Sphere and a showcase opportunity for the league before the draft decentralizes starting in 2025.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
"Willow" decentralizes the typical white male hero in its power fantasy, making the most important person in the universe a baby girl and the second most a little person.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2022
Web2 centralizes a bunch of cool stuff that was happening with Web1, but you are saying Web3 decentralizes it again.
From The Verge ● Apr. 12, 2022
To a purist, a blockchain must be a system, like bitcoin, that decentralizes both data and power.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2018
Now, this division of power, which decentralizes the government without creating mutually hostile forces, can hardly be introduced into any European state.
From The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny by Orestes Augustus Brownson
“The holy grail of prediction markets, they shed light on some of the most consequential, decentralized and human processes in the world, where good data is crucial and hard to find.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“We are already present on all the centralized and decentralized exchanges. Broker dealer unlocks new opportunities.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“The U.S. is always trying to push mission command and decentralized execution on our partners,” said Montgomery, a former rear admiral who served more than three decades in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The word “DeFiant” was a coy wink to this idea of decentralized currency, known as DeFi, the ostensible rationale for the new Trump–Witkoff platform.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
As with Pythagoras, in Darwin’s model, every organism carried information to build organs and structures in miniaturized form—except in Darwin’s case, the information was decentralized.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The president reiterated his commitment to decentralizing the economy and granting greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises, which account for roughly 80 percent of economic activity.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
In “Humanocracy,” Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini describe how decentralizing individual responsibility helps businesses thrive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
One solution may be decentralizing them by creating a network of small facilities that are harder to hit than large plants.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
States legislatures, in turn, delegate most of the management of elections to counties or other smaller government units, further decentralizing control over elections.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Whether the science of the future may not supply some decentralizing agency, which shall reverse the centralizing force of modern industry, is not a wholly frivolous speculation to suggest.
From Problems of Poverty by J. A. (John Atkinson) Hobson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
