- past tense form of centralize.
- past participle of centralize.
centralized
Americanadjective
-
controlled from one place.
The individual police departments will transition to the centralized dispatch system beginning in October.
After years of opting for top-down regulatory approaches, the new administration has decided to move toward a less centralized form of government oversight.
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existing in one place, or being the center point of a network: The system allows users to record subscriber complaints in a single database, creating a centralized source of information to assist us in pinpointing systematic delivery problems.
Each computer has a twisted-pair cable that runs to a centralized hub.
The system allows users to record subscriber complaints in a single database, creating a centralized source of information to assist us in pinpointing systematic delivery problems.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of centralized
Explanation
Anything that's centralized is under the control of one unified authority or located in a single place, like a centralized government. If a business is centralized, it operates from a central location, rather than spreading things out between stores, offices, or factories. Managers of satellite offices have less power if they work for a centralized company, where decisions are made in a home office. A centralized government works the same way, with power concentrated in the executive branch. Centralized derives from a Latin word meaning "center" and the Greek root kentron, "sharp point."
Vocabulary lists containing centralized
Eastern Europe - Introductory
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Eastern Europe - Middle School and High School
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Japanese History - Middle School and High School
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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.
Zelensky, in an earlier online post, said Russia had used an Iranian-designed Shahed drone to "hit one of the buildings of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility" in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026
Centralized state planning makes their adaptation much more efficient, enabling them to widen their net when seeking out fresh oil supplies.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026
Centralized, gated and closed on weekends, the New York Stock Exchange is the ultimate architectural symbol of everything bitcoin was created to disrupt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Centralized crypto meant that when Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapsed in on itself like a star in 2022, it weighed on whole crypto markets for a year.
From Slate • Aug. 5, 2024
Centralized feudalistic government destroyed, Yucatan fell into a sad plight.
From History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Hard University. Vol. VII. by Means, Philip Ainsworth
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.
