decentralize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a central authority) over a less concentrated area.
to decentralize the national government.
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to disperse (something) from an area of concentration.
to decentralize the nation's industry.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to reorganize (a government, industry, etc) into smaller more autonomous units
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to disperse (a concentration, as of industry or population)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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decentralizesimple
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decentralizessimple
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have decentralizedperfect
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has decentralizedperfect
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am decentralizingprogressive
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are decentralizingprogressive
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is decentralizingprogressive
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have been decentralizingperfect progressive
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has been decentralizingperfect progressive
Past
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decentralizedsimple
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had decentralizedperfect
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was decentralizingprogressive
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were decentralizingprogressive
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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:
Andy Burnham proposes “business-friendly socialism” to decentralize power and address household bills, aiming to save Labour from defeat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
I believe that was the reason: an attempt to decentralize the media and kind of break it down.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2025
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
Rendon ascended to speaker in 2016 on the promise that he would decentralize his control.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
In general the desire to decentralize credits explains why the act makes very much greater changes in existing arrangements than were proposed in the bill of the Monetary Commission.
From Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Phillips, Chester Arthur
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
“The quota system decentralizes and simplifies execution but incentivizes local authorities to prioritize output at any cost. This can create abuses.”
From Slate ● Oct. 23, 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
The approach essentially decentralizes the health system, gathering and responding to data in real-time instead of waiting for a national level analysis.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2021
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 Brownson, Orestes Augustus
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
That committee’s report also said Harvard was highly decentralized compared with its peers, operating an “Every Tub on its Own Bottom” system where each subsidiary prepares its own budgets and raises its own funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The play, which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize this year, entices on the page despite seeming overstuffed and curiously decentralized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
This broader, decentralized spirit manifests visibly across the country.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
During much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, private detective agencies had filled the vacuum left by decentralized, underfunded, incompetent, and corrupt sheriff and police departments.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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
At the time, Skid Row housing and service providers were looking outward, building housing in the Valley, Westlake, Hollywood and South L.A. in hopes of decentralizing their work on Skid Row.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
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
In other words, the defiance of conventions was an artistic victory, a decentralizing success.
From The Christmas Kalends of Provence And Some Other Provençal Festivals by Janvier, Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone)
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.
