cen·tral·ize centralizes centralizing centralized in BRIT, also use centralise To centralize a country, state, or organization means to create a system in which one central group of people gives instructions to regional groups. In the mass production era multinational firms tended to centralize their operations The economy of the times made it difficult to support centralized rule. + centralization cen·trali·za·tion Nowhere in Britain has bureaucratic centralization proceeded with more pace than in Scotland. to organize the control of a country, organization, or system so that everything is done or decided in one place decentralize