centralization

[sen-truh-luh-zey-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR centralization ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act or fact of centralizing; fact of being centralized.

the concentration of administrative power in a central government, authority, etc.

Chiefly Sociology.

a process whereby social groups and institutions become increasingly dependent on a central group or institution.
concentration of control or power in a few individuals.

Origin of centralization

First recorded in 1795–1805; centralize + -ation

Related formsan·ti·cen·tral·i·za·tion, adjective, nouno·ver·cen·tral·i·za·tion, nounpro·cen·tral·i·za·tion, adjectivere·cen·tral·i·za·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for centralization

Contemporary Examples of centralization

But Tocqueville in fact distinguished between two kinds of centralization: centralized administration and centralized government.
Poulos Gets Piketty—and Tocqueville—Wrong
Arthur Goldhammer
April 26, 2014
Grievances over the centralization of power downtown (with its latte-sipping elites, and so on) still runs strong.
How Rob Ford Could Win Reelection
Ivor Tossell
January 3, 2014
Centralization leaves information vulnerable: to fraud, to surveillance, to sale.
The Internet Shouldn’t Own You
Eric Klinker
October 10, 2013
All of the apparatuses of centralization need to be subject to reconsideration.
5 Ways to Fix Book Publishing
Anis Shivani
July 12, 2013
He predicts that “the concentration and centralization of power will remain at the White House” when it comes to foreign policy.
Kerry's Impromptu Meeting With Abbas
Andrea Stone
March 5, 2013

Historical Examples of centralization

We may express that method in the one word "centralization."
History of the Moravian Church
J. E. Hutton
Those same twenty years mark the centralization of industry.
A Preface to Politics
Walter Lippmann
Centralization permits, but does not guarantee, greater efficiency.
Chapters in Rural Progress
Kenyon L. Butterfield
One of the first tendencies of sickness is to centralization.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866
Various
The doctor well understood all the advantages of centralization.
Laboulaye's Fairy Book
Various

Word Origin and History for centralization

1801, especially of administrative power, originally with reference to Napoleonic France and on model of French centralisation. See centralize + -ation.