centralize
Americanverb (used with object)
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centralizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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centralized,
past participle, past
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centralizing
present participle
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to draw to or gather about a center.
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to bring under one control, especially in government.
to centralize budgeting in one agency.
verb (used without object)
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centralizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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centralized,
past participle, past
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centralizing
present participle
verb
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to draw or move (something) to or towards a centre
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to bring or come under central control, esp governmental control
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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centralizesimple
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centralizessimple
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have centralizedperfect
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has centralizedperfect
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am centralizingprogressive
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are centralizingprogressive
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is centralizingprogressive
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have been centralizingperfect progressive
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has been centralizingperfect progressive
Past
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centralizedsimple
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had centralizedperfect
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was centralizingprogressive
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were centralizingprogressive
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had been centralizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of centralize
Explanation
To centralize is to join together or concentrate in one main place. Instead of keeping coins and bills stashed all around your room, it might be wise to centralize your savings in your piggy bank. The word centralize is often used by companies, organizations, or governments when they reorganize or streamline their operations by focusing control in one main location or authority. A school district might centralize student records by putting them all in one location instead of keeping them at separate schools. A corporation may centralize its operations by putting all its managers in one main office, or headquarters, shutting down regional locations in order to cut costs.
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:
Kim also wants to centralize authority over health insurance programs within the department and is proposing a plan to guarantee healthcare for every child in California — two ideas that would need extensive legislative authority.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Several of the executives are due to attend the launch of America.gov, an AI-powered government website designed to centralize services across federal agencies.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Palantir sells software to centralize, manage and analyze large amounts of data, helping government agencies and private companies derive insights and make decisions such as supply-chain planning or where to drop munitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
Now that we have one clear policy, we can update all of our Help pages and try to centralize this a bit more.
From Slate ● Apr. 1, 2026
The plan was accepted at most branches, but some of the more far-flung outposts felt that the plan was an effort by Jo-hannesburg to centralize control over the regions.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The biggest problem is that it centralizes Europeanness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
Fan has been working with Chinese institutions to set up more community care, rather than the current system, which centralizes care in major hospitals.
From Washington Post ● May 19, 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
Domino’s centralizes its food prep in regional distribution centers that serve multiple stores.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2020
If you hold your mind on some chosen object, you centralize your attention, just like the lens of the camera centralizes on a certain landscape.
From The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont
Nor will media literacy programs, stronger education about viruses, centralized hubs for medical information, “prebunking” campaigns, or community engagement programs—all good ideas from experts that still cannot meet the sheer force of our paranoia.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
If a relatively simple machine can produce behavior that looks intentional without possessing a decision-making system, could human behavior also appear to result from centralized decisions even if no such central process exists?
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
Broken TV economics have prompted the NBA to begin making plans to build a centralized streaming platform for fans to watch basketball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The balance of power in open-weight models is much more centralized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Amalgamation, centralized conflict resolution, decision making, economic redistribution, and kleptocratic religion don’t just develop automatically through a Rousseauesque social contract.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
“You’re having a conversation about the future of young workers, and you’re not centralizing them in the conversation,” Lundrigan said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
"Rather than centralizing superintelligence, we should distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it," Zuckerberg wrote, arguing that open models are a key part of a global AI ecosystem.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Iranian state media acknowledged his death late Saturday; Khamenei had led the Islamic Republic since 1989, centralizing religious and political power and steering Iran into prolonged confrontation with both Israel and the United States.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
“As AI rapidly reshapes retail, we are centralizing our platforms to accelerate shared capabilities, freeing up our operating segments to be more focused on and closer to our customers and members,” said Furner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
But in all branches of industry—and death is an industry, my young friend, make no mistake about that—one makes one’s money from operating in bulk, from buying in quantity, from centralizing one’s operations.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
