decenter

American  

[dee-sen-ter] / diˈsɛn tər /

especially British, decentre

verb (used with object)

1. to put out of the center or make eccentric.

   The goal is to decenter the treatment zone of the eye to align with the line of sight instead of the geometric center of the cornea.

2. to remove from a position of priority or dominance so as to give attention and influence to other viewpoints, concerns, etc..

   The new version of the test will force high schools to teach history from a perspective that decenters whiteness.

   The author’s call to decenter the self, to make empathetic leaps toward the other, is unsentimental yet moving.

3. Astronomy. to cause (an orbit) to follow a path in which the body being orbited is not at the center.

   A decentered orbit is temporary—all orbits around a single body become elliptical and centered in due time.

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verb (used without object)

1. to shift one’s attention from one’s usual focus or preoccupation.

   As therapists we must decenter from our own perspective and experience the client through their own way of being in the world.

Etymology

Origin of decenter

First recorded in 1885–90; de- ( def. ) + center ( def. )

Example Sentences

My husband and I have been arguing nonstop about emotional labor and my ongoing attempts to decenter him in our marriage.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 20, 2024

Aiming to decenter visual representations in data analysis, Zong and Hajas, who lost his sight at age 16, began co-designing Umwelt more than a year ago.

From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2024

But he quickly added that “the hope is that we can decenter fear and recenter possibility and imagination.”

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2022

“I want to decenter the straight white male hero and give us hero stories that center people who we haven’t seen before. That’s the kind of thing I grew up without.”

From Seattle Times • Sep. 13, 2021

In 1451, for example, the Christmas mystery is performed "cessantibus tamen stulticiis et insolenciis," and in 1457 "ordinaverunt quod misterium pastorum fiat isto festo nativitatis decenter in cappis."

From The Story of Rouen by Cook, Theodore Andrea, Sir